Lest We Forget: What did District Courts prioritise during COVID-19 pandemic?

Shreya Tripathy

Senior Resident Fellow

Since 2018, I have worked in JALDI on topics such as judicial diversity, infrastructure and efficient budgeting for the judiciary. I have also undertaken several data-driven projects intending to understand the systemic problems of the judiciary at all levels and provide targeted solutions. I have publications in the Economic and Political Weekly and other law & policy review journals. I have also published in the Outlook and platforms such as Hindustan Times and The Print. My areas of interest include Human Rights & Judicial Reforms. I graduated with B.B.A.LL.B. from National Law University, Odisha in 2018. Before joining Vidhi, I interned in organizations like Nyaaya, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre and Partners for Law in Development. My dream for the Indian judiciary is that it becomes more inclusive and accessible for all. The general narrative when it comes to accessibility and the judiciary tends to shift towards litigants who may be Persons with Disabilities. It is high time that the judiciary starts changing this narrative and starts considering accessibility for all and at all levels including judicial officers and staff. I am an enthusiastic collector of cookbooks and love trying out recipes from around the world.

Atishya Kumar

Former Research Fellow

Atishya Kumar was a research fellow at JALDI. At JALDI, she worked on the Lest We Forget Project, which resulted in a report on the performance of District Courts across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic; Re-imagined Civil Rules of Practice (process re-engineering); and a team engagement that she was a part of was with the National Court Management Systems’ Human Resource Sub-committee. She also frequently works on short pieces relating to gender diversity within the judicial system. She graduated with a B.A. LL.B (Hons.) from National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi in 2018 and an LLM in Human Rights Law from University of Nottingham in 2019, for which she was awarded the Developing Solutions Masters Scholarship. She has previously worked as a research consultant for government bodies-the National Human Rights Commission and Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice. She has also been a Director at Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA), a non-profit organisation, prior to joining JALDI. Her dream is for the Indian judiciary to be more inclusive in the years to come. As one of the core pillars of democracy, representation of the people that the judiciary seeks to serve is essential at all levels. To achieve this, the judiciary needs to make systemic changes that strike at the root cause of gender discrimination within the system.

District judiciary