Welcome to Majlis!
A team of women lawyers, social workers, academicians and activists who work for the protection and promotion of women and children’s rights through legal representation, advocacy and training.
Majlis’ Rahat offers legal and social support to women and children victims of sexual and domestic violence.
Majlis’ Flavia Agnes Centre for Learning is a multi-disciplinary hub for advancing knowledge, promoting research and fostering discourse on the intersection of gender, law and society.
Our Work
Rahat
Majlis’ Rahat offers legal and social support to women and children victims of sexual and domestic violence across caste, class and religion. We ensure that the dignity and best interest of the victim is upheld throughout the legal process
Legal Support includes making them aware of their rights and helping them negotiate the daunting justice system during investigation and trial.
• Domestic Violence: Our team of lawyers provide quality legal advice and legal representation in cases of domestic violence, maintenance, child custody, divorce etc across Magistrate, Sessions and Family Courts in Mumbai and Thane.
• Sexual Violence: We provide continuous support from registration of the case, throughout the investigation and trial and beyond. We liaison with state stakeholders including the Police, Medical Officers, CWC, Prosecutor, Judge and Women and Department of Child Development.
Social Support: We help victims access support services to rehabilitate their lives.
• Access to medical, shelter, ration, education, documents, schemes and more.
• Trauma counselling to ensure therapeutic healing.
• Saksham handholds victims towards financial independence by providing career guidance, up-skilling, jobs and more.
Flavia Agnes Centre for Learning
Majlis’ Flavia Agnes Centre for Learning is a multi-disciplinary dynamic hub for advancing knowledge, promoting research and fostering discourse on the intersection of gender, law and society. The centre uses the legal and social strategies and learning of Majlis to institutionalise it into law, policy and practice. It aims to empower and build deep understanding of stakeholders (state and civil society) through pedagogy and engage with empirical research and advocacy to ensure practical and nuanced policy decisions. Some of the activities of the centre are:
Curriculum Development: Designing short term certificate courses on laws related to women and children. Developing interactive, case studies, videos, pre and post reads. Designing public awareness campaigns.
Research and Publications: Action research, case law research, scholarly articles, policy papers, and reports to contribute to academic discourse and influence policy decisions.
Training and Capacity Building: Workshops, seminars, training programs, certificate courses for state stakeholders including legal professionals, law enforcement, and judicial officers to enhance their understanding of gender-sensitive legal practices and their roles and responsibilities. Conducting certificate courses for civil society stakeholders including women+ and children in the community, social workers, para legal volunteers, teachers, corporates etc. about laws and how to access their rights.
Organise outreach programs to engage with local communities and raise awareness about gender rights and legal provisions.
Collaborations: Partnerships with NGOs, CBOs, grassroots movements, law schools, universities, and research institutions to create a network for shared resources and collaborative projects.
Policy Advocacy: Advocate for gender-inclusive legal reforms through policy recommendations and influence public opinion for progressive legal changes.
Library and Resource Center: A specialised library on gender and law, creating a valuable resource for students, researchers, and practitioners.
Internship and Exchange Programs: For students and professionals to gain practical experience.
Where it all Started
Majlis’ co-founder Flavia Agnes, a victim of domestic violence herself, walked out of an abusive marriage at a time where it was inconceivable to do so – with three children, no education and no family support.
Flavia was part of the early autonomous women’s movement. She initially started ‘Women’s Centre’, a space for women and children facing violence to support each other. Her disappointment with the response of the legal system in accessing justice in her own case encouraged her to get a degree in law and start Majlis in 1991.
Since 2007 Adv. Audrey Dmello has been heading Majlis’ comprehensive programme on Gender and Law that involves legal representation, advocacy and training.
Our Journey since 1991
How far we have reached
What people say about Us
Dear Majlis team, Thank you for this excellent brief summary of what the law on Muslim women’s maintenance rights actually is. It is this kind of information that is missing in the public, partly because ‘activists’ have been complaining about the bad treatment of Muslim women, when in fact even Islamic law itself contains very clear ethical and moral guidelines to the effect that a man cannot just push his wife onto the street if he gets tired of her. I have admired your work for a long time, keep it up.
Werner Menski
Emeritus Professor SOAS, University of London
Dear Majlis Team Members, I have been receiving your emails regularly. I write this note to express my appreciation for the work you are doing. A special appreciation for what you have done for Rubina – and what you will do for others in a similar predicament. God bless you all.
Bishop Agnelo Gracias
Jalandar
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to you for giving me this incredible opportunity to intern with Majlis, this was truly the best internship in 5 years of my law school.I will forever cherish my learnings and experiences that I took away from each and every person at Majlis.
Sudeshna Dutta
Intern
I admire the bottom up work structure of Majlis contributing to a healthy work environment. The thing that will stay with me the most will be the personal connections between the team and the integration of interns in the workplace, the way interns are included in all the functions and events during the course of their internship. I admire the work that majlis does and will be grateful to have been part of it.
Namrata Rao
Intern
I absolutely love the work environment. I love everyone’s passion for the cause, and I especially love that it felt like such a safe space. I loved that I was given the opportunity to speak to clients directly, since that allowed me to hear their lived experiences from themselves, and I really appreciate how the entire procedure from first response till litigation and even thereafter is entirely dedicated to make the victims into survivors.
Reonia Mathew
Intern
We are grateful to Majlis for the session on POCSO. We thoroughly enjoyed the interactive session and felt we could go on the full day. Grateful to Majlis and our partnership. Our 22 members of the forum who attended will benefit greatly.
Nayan Mali
Forum for Prevention of Human Trafficking
Our Board
Our Team
Our Partners
Support our Cause
Majlis is registered as a Society and Public Trust. All donations are eligible for 80G tax exemptions.
We are listed on GiveIndia online donation platform. Majlis has been awarded the GuideStar India Gold Certification that validates NGOs on their compliance, transparency and public disclosure. We also have a CSR Registration.
We are also registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) for Foreign Donations:
Ac No 40109011081 ; IFSC Code SBIN0000069
Majlis & You
To be a part of our team, do fill this form and we will get in touch with you.
To seek legal advice or to conduct a training, contact us from Monday to Friday 11 am to 7 pm.