Taibur Rahman, Kurigram:
Friendship, a development partner, has launched an online legal information and service center to ensure justice for people in marginalized areas. The service center was inaugurated by Senior District and Sessions Judge and Chairman of Kurigram District Legal Aid Committee Md Abdul Mannan at the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court Building in the northern district of Kurigram.
Speaking at the inaugural function, he said the government is continuing its efforts to make it easier for the people to get legal services and justice in the courts. He hoped that the launch of ‘Online Legal Information and Service Center’ in Kurigram would ensure the legal rights of the marginalized and disadvantaged. The director of the National Legal Aid Agency also praised Friendship’s initiative in seeking legal services in court.
Runa Khan, Founder Executive Director of Friendship, gave a welcome address at the inaugural online discussion with judges, lawyers and district legal aid officials. He said that several lakh people of Char under Roumari, Rajibpur and Chilmari upazilas of Kurigram, isolated from the mainland through the Brahmaputra river. It is very difficult for these people to come to the district court and get legal services. Friendship has been providing legal services for a long time by setting up legal booths in most of the chars. Now, Friendship’s online legal information and service center is being set up at the district court building to serve the people of Char as well as the people of Kurigram. As a result, local residents will get all kinds of legal services online or offline.
Md. Saiful Islam, Director, National Legal Aid Agency and Senior District and Sessions Judge, attended the inaugural function of the Online Legal Information and Service Center at Kurigram Court as the chief guest online. Also present were Kurigram Deputy Commissioner Md. Rezaul Karim, Women and Child Abuse Suppression Tribunal Judge and District and Sessions Judge Amlan Kusum Jisnu, Kurigram Chief Judicial Magistrate Alamgir Kabir Shipon, Kurigram Police Super Syeda Jannat Ara, District Legal Aid Officer and Senior Md. Kudrat-i-Khuda and eminent persons concerned with law.
The speakers thanked the foreign organization, Ericsson Development Partner and Friendship Luxembourg for their cooperation in launching ‘Online Legal Information and Service Centers’ in marginal districts like Kurigram.
In Bangladesh, where livelihoods are under threat, the development partner organization ‘Friendship’ is working to empower all the marginalized people and empower the local people. Since its inception in 2002, the company has been assisting 6 million people every year. In addition to remote areas where residents are victims of climate change, Friendship continues to strive to make people self-sufficient. In this case, it has been recognized as a model of success in the country and abroad. The company has more than 3,000 employees, staff and officers in Bangladesh. About 50 percent of the manpower working in Friendship is local.
