Free legal aid for families of COVID-19 victims on Human Rights Day
The Hindu
Group of lawyers and doctors behind the initiative say they want to take the service beyond West Bengal
A group of doctors and lawyers associated with the non-profit ‘Covid Care Network’ in West Bengal launched a legal aid service for family members of COVID-19 victims on the occasion of the International Human Rights Day here on Friday. The aid will be provided free of cost to people who lost family members in the pandemic
Abhijeet Chowdhury, a noted physician and advisor on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s global advisory board, is the chief mentor of the Covid Care Network along with advocate at the Calcutta High Court Arindam Das. Both were among those who launched the service at an event at the Press Club in Kolkata.
Two helpline numbers (7044041013 and 7044041014) have been provided for callers. Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, another key member of the network, said that earlier this year, on January 30, the network had launched the “National Covid Memorial” (www.nationalcovidmemorial.in) as a virtual epitaph to people who died during the pandemic. He pointed out that not only has the pandemic taken away family members, there were several reports from different corners of the State on children being left without parents.
Around 440 MBBS graduates of 2021 are not required to undergo one year of compulsory rural service as per the bond signed by them while joining the medical course through government-quota seats in 2015 as the High Court of Karnataka has said the law, enacted in 2012 for mandatory rural service, remained unenforced for 10 years as it was published in the official gazette only in July 2022.