VI. Week 4 and Samöens
The right to competent legal representation
A major component of IBJ’s mission is to provide incarcerated people around the world with competent legal representation. While this is a daunting task, IBJ is able to do this by working with lawyers around the world in a variety of ways. A task that I have undertaken at IBJ is to help update their India Criminal Defense Manual which was published in 2006. Now that IBJ has a streamlined method for creating these manuals, it is time to update some of the older ones to reflect the new template.
Along with two other interns, I have been collaborating with IBJ’s India Program Director, Ajay Verma, and an IBJ attorney, Siddharth Kaushik, who studied law in India. It is necessary for us to familiarize ourselves with the criminal code and constitution of India while drafting the manual. Similarly to the US Constitution, India’s Constitution is relatively straightforward, however, it requires judicial interpretation and case law to understand it fully. It is also important for us to understand some of the history and procedure in India’s criminal courts. For example, we do not have to worry about translating the documents into Hindi because the High Courts conduct their hearings in English. After the British colonized India, they installed a judicial system that reflected the British system, and that included conducting hearings in English. India has a common law judicial system which relies on their legislature to pass statutes that are then interpreted by the Supreme Court. India’s Supreme Court also maintains original jurisdiction for cases filed between states, between citizens and states, or several other scenarios.
The work is being divided by chapter; this week I worked on Chapter 1, Kedhar - another legal intern - drafted Chapter 2, and Abi drafted Chapter 3. Chapter 1 is an overview of the criminal justice system in India, which in hindsight would have been best to do last since we would then have an easier time of broadly summarizing the major concepts, but I digress. Chapter 2 discusses jurisdiction and the powers of the Magistrates. Chapter 3 reflects the rights of the accused. While drafting the content, we are able to use IBJ’s previous defense manual that was published in 2006, but the laws are not up to date and do not reflect the same case law that we must now use, so our finished product will be entirely different. As a team, we made our goal to complete the project before our internship ends, which is feasible if each intern drafts 1 chapter per week. Considering this manual will be published, we all would like to see this project through to completion.
After work
Friday was a bit of a festive day, and less work-related. Karen, IBJ's CEO, invited all of the staff to her beautiful home in Versoix. Though we did not need much of an excuse to get excited about a Friday of no work, we decided to celebrate Switzerland's legalization of gay marriage, which went into effect on July 1. The get together included fruit and veggie trays, various Swiss cheeses and breads, celebratory champagne, and a rather queer music playlist.
Karen led a group of interns into the forest that surrounds her home. As she led us through the trail, we could hear the sound of the river to our left. She led us to an opening in the trees that peered onto a perfect spot to wade in the river. Cold does not even begin to describe the temperature of the magic river. After several minutes, the cold lessened, perhaps due to my limbs becoming numb. After a cold, but refreshing, swim, we headed back to Karen's house.
To finish the party, we did several rounds of group-karaoke, which included the group choosing a song and everyone randomly being assigned a verse to sing, or it would devolve into a group screaming match. You knew it was your turn to sing when the microphone was tossed to you. Though the singing was... questionable, it was a very entertaining evening.
Le voyage vers les Alpes
After the party at Karen's, all of the interns tried to head to the Alps for a weekend getaway in a chalet. Talia is an intern at IBJ whose parents were generous enough to let us stay at their family chalet for the weekend. Problems arose when we tried to unlock our rental car, however. The rental car did not come with a physical key, but rather an app that was supposed to unlock the car, which did not work. After several hours on the phone, Kedhar, the intern who rented the car, decided to venture back to the rental car office and try to get a key. After several more hours, we were able to get a physical key and were on our way to Samöens, France.
The chalet was absolutely breathtaking. The outside of the structure was simple, but beautifully framed by mountains any way you turned. The best part of the chalet was the inside. Even though we had 11 interns in the chalet, room was not a problem. Multiple stories allowed for several interns to share a room, and each one had a window that looked out onto the mountains. Abi and I shared a room on the main floor. We were mostly ecstatic about getting to sleep on a real bed, as opposed to the backbreaking-basically-cardboard bed we have at Cité. In the living room, there was an enormous window that looked out onto a picturesque view of the Alps. We arrived in the middle of the night, so it was not until the morning that we were able to truly appreciate the beauty of the chalet.
The first morning, we were greeted with a traditional Swiss breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat, and shots of espresso while we planned our day. We decided to stop by a shop to buy sandwiches for lunch. Next, we went acrobranching in Morillon. That was an unforgettable experience. Similar to ziplining, we had cables that were secured to us via a harness. We traveled through the course, facing obstacles that required some coordination to get through. The most exhilarating part was when I had to sit on the edge of a platform and freefall below me and swing onto a net to pull myself up. It was mildly terrifying, but oh, so worth it.
One of the highlights of our entire trip was the sunset we witnessed on Saturday. After we finished our pasta dinner, we all wanted to glimpse the sunset. When we went outside, we saw a team of wild horses grazing in the field by the chalet. They were rather friendly and allowed us to approach and pet them. When we moved to a different spot with a better view of the mountains, the horses followed us. It was truly a magical experience filled with joy and maybe some singing from The Sound of Music. Together, we had a photoshoot as the sun set with our new friends grazing in the field next to us. It was truly an unforgettable night and a perfect way to end our weekend getaway in the Alps.