Our team

Currently HRLD in Pune is working under the guidance of Adv. Asim Sarode.The team consists of Mr. Asim and Mrs. Rama Sarode, a few other lawyers, volunteers and two office assistants. To date, they are the only organization working on socio-legal issues in Pune. However, like-minded law students and lawyers have gradually come forward to assist and HRLD are encouraging other colleagues to provide a portion of their services pro-bono to the needy.

About the team:

Mr. Asim Sarode (Advocate/B.A. LL.B.)

Adv. Sarode comes from a family that follows the Gandhian philosophy and has completed his law degree from Pune’s ILS Law College. While in college itself, Asim started thinking about providing legal guidance and legal aid to the downtrodden and marginalised classes, so he decided to dedicate his life to the socio-legal causes. Human Rights and Law Defenders (HRLD) is his brain child. His work has been recognized with several awards, for example he is the only male advocate to be given the internationally recognized Majlis fellowship to work on women’s rights. He is also a freelance journalist and writes on socio-legal issues and is a CAB (Community Advisory Board) member of NARI (National AIDS Research Institute).
[read more about his further Awards and Recognitions of his work]

Mrs. Rama Sarode (Advocate/M.A. LL.M.)

After beginning her profession as a lawyer and a sociologist, Adv. Rama Sarode has been actively working on various social and right issues. She is following her vision to use law as a tool for social change by using her advocacy skills on socio-legal issues especially in the fields of women rights, child rights and the criminal justice system. While offering her advocate services to the marginalized she aims to strike a balance in the imbalanced power equations of the Indian society and to strengthen the access to justice with a people-oriented perspective. Further, she is leading workshops on various legal issues to simplify the legal language and to increase the understanding and use of law by wider audiences.

Her extensive work experience with social and right issues has made her an expert in the concerned fields.
[read more about her working experience, activities and achievements]

Dr. Smita Sandesh Singalkar

She is a doctor by profession, but has always been interested in social sector. She has completed her diploma in Human Rights from Nagpur and is now pursuing her degree in Law. Her interest is to work in health with a gender perspective.

Currently she is practicing in Nagpur Courts. She is the Majlis fellow of 2010. She has been writing a column titled “Nyay Nivara” in Sakal, Vidharbh Edition on issues of socio-legal importance.

Mr. V.A. Iyer (Advocate/B.A. DPA)

Adv. Iyer who has just finished his law degree, joined HRLD on a voluntary basis to dedicate his skills to the work for Human Rights.

Sanjay Devidush Jadhav (Office assistant)