Vadodara, Aug 22, 2020: Jesuit Father P D Mathew, the first Catholic priest to become a lawyer in India, has recently celebrated the golden jubilee of his religious life as a Jesuit. His is an inspiring story of empowering thousands of our citizens through his mission of legal aid.
Father Mathew says a short stay with a group of bonded laborers in early 1960s made a drastic change in his life. During his training to become a Jesuit priest, his superiors had asked him to study chemistry so that he could become a teacher in their college in Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat.
But the stay with the tribals in the Bharuch district of Gujarat during 1962-1965, helped him realize the way they were oppressed by powerful people. “Their cries for human rights and justice challenged me as a priest to respond to them in an effective way,” the lawyer priest recalled.
According to him, becoming a lawyer as “a vocation with his choice vocation” where his main mission was to listen to the plight of the simple and suffering people.
“It was in that situation that I first thought of studying law in order to liberate them from the bonded system prevalent at that time in Gujarat. My later studies in social work at the M S University, Baroda, (passed with distinction and gold medal) also inspired me to take up the legal profession as a means of liberating the oppressed people.”
Father Mathew says not all supported his idea of becoming a lawyer. His Jesuit superiors and companions considered law as a “lier’s profession” of those exploiting the poor litigants, who helplessly seek justice through courts. “As a result, no priest in India ever thought of studying civil laws to take up the legal profession as a mission to serve the poor,” he explained.
“Consequently I struggled a lot to get permission from my superiors to acquire a degree in law. After a year-long dialogue with my superiors I was given permission to take a degree in law at the M.S. University, Baroda. After 3 years of law studies I got the LL.B. degree with distinction and gold medal which prompted the university authorities to ask me to continue my law studies to take an LL.M. degree and to teach in the Law Faculty of the University. But it was not my portion.”
However, that was not Father Mathew’s mind. The cries of bonded laborers he had heard years ago in Bharuch challenged him. “It encouraged me to live among the poor tribals and to teach them about their legal rights and organize them to fight for their rights and justice and to empower them to lead a dignified life as human beings and citizens of India.”
When he was to plunge into the uncharted path for a Jesuit priest, he was asked by the head of the Jesuits in India to go to the national capital to start legal aid as a part of their Indian Social Institute.
“First I spent two months at different places in India to understand the socio-economic and legal problems faced by the poor people and the views of social activists working among them,” Father Mathew recalls.
The study-tour helped him understand the struggle of the poor to get socio-economic and political justice and to experience equality, liberty, human dignity, fraternity and unity assured by the Constitution of India to every Indian citizen.
“What I saw was a divided India – rich and poor. Majority of Indians belonged to the weaker sections of the society that consists of women, children, senior citizens, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, minorities, unorganized laborers, undertrials. They all were denied justice and experience of human rights. Their dream of an independent and progressive India was never actually realized. It remained a mere dream.”
Such experiences and socio-legal analysis encouraged him to take up the legal aid at the national level. “Immediately after returning to Delhi, I registered my name in the Bar Council of Delhi as a lawyer and joined the Supreme Court Bar Association to practice law to support the poor clients.”
Many socially committed judges and lawyers expressed their willingness to help him take up Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on behalf of the poor. Later with their help he fought several PIL cases related to bonded laborers, child laborers and victims of atrocities in the Supreme Court and they received justice through the landmark judgments.
“While pursuing those cases in Supreme Court I realized that the poor were not able to get their rights and legal justice because of ignorance of their rights assured by the Constitution of India and the laws of the country and lack of organizational frame work to support the poor seeking justice.”
So, he launched a ‘Legal Cell’ in the Indian Social Institute to empower the oppressed. The cell started several activities such as legal literacy, Para-legal training, publication of leaflets, booklets and magazines in English and state languages.
Legal counseling and people’s court (Lok Adalat) helped the parties of disputes to settle their cases amicably. Such cases were followed up with family visits, and dialogue by the legal aid team members.
“Now such legal aid cells are working in many parts of the country. They are directed by priests, religious and lay leaders well trained in law. At present about 1,000 priests and religious have taken up the legal profession to promote justice and human rights among the weaker section of society, especially among women, children, minorities, disabled and prisoners, SCs/STs,” the pioneer priest said.
Father Mathew believes that virtue lies not only in finding the way but to walk the path successfully.
“What we need is well trained and committed socio-legal activists to promote the values of justice, equality, liberty, fraternity and human dignity in every aspect of national life especially in the legal and judicial systems. There must be a new generation of lawyers to open the eyes of the poor to see the wonders of the law. In view of these great tasks ahead, priests, religious and social activists and lay leaders are trained in law for an year to become Para-legals so that they can teach the illiterates and the ignorant ones about the laws of our country and thereby promote justice and human rights among them, and empower them to affirm and assert their rights using the available judicial means.”
“If everyone follows the laws of our country all persons irrespective of caste, creed, race, gender and place of birth will entail a meaningful co-existence because no one can love others without respecting their rights, which are given to every person as a means to develop him/her as a human person and child of God. Keeping the above vision, philosophy and spirituality in mind I am moving as a Jesuit lawyer to help the voiceless millions in India in collaboration with like-minded lawyers, legal and social activists.”
The legal aid activities now carried forward in Nyay Darshan, a Centre for Human Rights and Justice at Vadodara, Gujarat, are designed to make the legal aid services a powerful tool to promote justice and human rights among the least of God’s children. The center is engaged (1) to promote legal literary through schools, colleges, boarding’s and other educational institutions (2) to organize talks, discussions, seminars and workshops on legal issues affecting the poor (3) to impart legal counseling to clients and to settle cases amicably (4) to publish periodicals viz. leaflets and booklets on various rights of the common people (5) to make people aware of the various welfare schemes and the free legal aid schemes initiated by the Central and State Governments (6) to train social activists on various laws and welfare schemes (7) to file litigation in different courts on behalf of the marginalized whose rights are violated.
More than 100 books including the Constitution of India (simplified), Indian Penal Code, Indian Evidence Act, hundreds of leaflets in Hindi and English on different areas of Human rights and Legal literary for the common people have been published.
The magazines ‘Legal News and Views” and ‘Aapna Adhikaar’ are lucid channels of enlightenment to the common man and the social activists. Nyay Darshan has also started training programs of different durations which are held at different places to train Social Activists. Personal conselling is given to clients who come for settlement of cases at the Lok Adalat.
This service is open to all people. The one-year Para Legal training programs is yet another fruitful mission of Nyay Darshan. There are already two batches and a third batch will be at 3 places viz. Quilon, Andheri (Mumbai) and Vadodara meant for social activists who work among the weaker sections.
These activities are conducted in collaboration with other NGOs, legal activists and lawyers engaged in promoting Human Rights.
The Centre is also engaged in building up Lawyers Solidarity towards the cause of human rights and for addressing various social realities which involve a holistic approach.
One of the ambitious mass media project is that of intellectualization of the mass on the law and the various government schemes available to the people at large through village-to-village street plays comprising one- act plays, music and other means of pubic shows which will also help on-the-spot counselling to the needy and deprived ones.
“The last 30 years of experience in this service has given me a great sense of satisfaction and joy as a Jesuit lawyer. The words of Jesus ‘Happy are those who hunger and thirst for justice (righteousness) and they shall be satisfied,’ are being realized in my life too. Now I do believe that legal professionals with a socio – spiritual vision and mission can become catalysts to establish a New Bharat based on the values enshrined in the Constitution of India”.
A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst… a spark that creates extra-ordinary results.
Source: The Times of India