Colin Gonsalves is a Senior Advocate

Advocate

An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...

 of the Supreme Court of India

Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution of India...

. He is also the Founder Director of Human Rights Law Network (HRLN)

HRLN

HRLN is a group of Indian lawyers working for social causes and bringing legal cases for disadvantaged sections of society to promote human rights...

. A pioneer in the field of public interest litigation

Public interest litigation

In Indian law, Public Interest Litigation OR जनहित याचिका means litigation for the protection of the public interest. It is litigation introduced in a court of law, not by the aggrieved party but by the court itself or by any other private party...

 in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

, he has successfully brought a number of cases dealing with economic, social and cultural rights. Most of these cases decided by the Supreme Court have been set as precedent

Precedent

In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a principle or rule established in a legal case that a court or other judicial body may apply when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts...

s.

Gonsalves is also the founder of the India Center for Human Rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 and Law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

, an independent, one-stop information center for anyone involved in public interest law.

Education

Colin Gonsalves, is a B.Tech (1975) from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Bombay. He began working as a civil engineer, but was drawn to the law through union work and concerns over labour issues and exploitation. Thus, he started studying law at night school in 1979.

Achievements

• Winner of the 2004 International Human Rights Award of the American Bar Association in public recognition of his contribution to the area of human rights.

Important Public Interest Litigations brought by Colin Gonsalves

• In response to a case he argued the Supreme Court directed unions and state governments to implement several food security schemes.
• In a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court of India filed by child rights group Bachpan Bachao Andolan on child labour and trafficking of children for forced labour, the court directed the government to ensure the implementation of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000. Gonsalves appeared on behalf of Bachpan Bachao Andolan.

External links

• http://hrln.org/hrln
• http://hrln.org/hrln/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=648&Itemid=118
• http://www.hindu.com/2006/06/02/stories/2006060200330900.htm
• http://thelangarhall.com/india/farmer-suicides-continue/
• http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bitter-pil-to-swallow/296747/0
• http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sc-declines-plea-on-antibegging-law/9215-3.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VemYN2Q33s Interview on NDTV
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2oHKeKpTb8 Speech at WSO Dinner