2024 : The year that was

	At a  legal awareness session in Kalburgi,  Karnataka, Thayamma, approached our fellow, Geeta Sajjanshetty asking for help in getting Covid compensation for her deceased husband. We filed a writ petition before the High Court of Karnataka and got a favourable order. Thayamma has been receiving the promised amount ever since and is now able to provide for her 5 children.
	*Anita is one of 5000 women who have gone missing from different parts of Bihar between 2023 and 2024. We received information that Anita, who suffers from mental health issues, had gone missing in July, 2024 from Forbesganj. She was traced by a group of missionaries in Chennai. The missionaries had volunteered to bring Anita back to Bihar. However, given that there was no FIR or missing report filed on her behalf, they wouldn’t be allowed to enter Forbesganj without adequate paperwork, as it is a border region. Our fellow, Mukesh Paswan travelled overnight from Muzzafarpur to Forbesganj, completed all the legal formalities in the local police station and before the Magistrate, obtained the required documents, received Anita from the station and dropped her home safely.
	This year, we got 5.2 million web impressions and over 1 million new users across our English, Hindi, and Kannada platforms per month. These numbers highlight the growing demand for accessible legal information and the trust users place in our platform to deliver accurate, easy-to-understand content.

2024 was a momentous year for us at Nyaaya! Building on the success of our pilot edition of the Samvidhaan Fellowship in Karnataka, we returned with a second edition in Karnataka and forayed into a new region – Bihar. 

Nyaaya Kannada

Nyaaya Habba : A day-long celebration  celebrating legal empowerment, honouring local changemakers, and engaging in impactful discussions on law and access to justice. Attended by 350 individuals at Bangalore’s picturesque Shankaraa Foundation, the day included a capacity building workshop of over 200 functionaries of the Dept of Women and Child and paralegal volunteers from  Karnataka Legal Services Authority. The event also included student activities involving over 100 law students and a mesmerising performance by MD Pallavi.  The event was also graced by legal stalwarts like Justice B.N. Sri Krishna, Shri Jaishankar (Member Secretary of KSLSA), Mr. Ajit Isaac among others. Watch here to get a glimpse of the Habba.
Namma Nade Nyaayada Kade: Launched at the Nyaaya Habba, this is our songs of justice series, composed by MD Pallavi and with lyrics by Mamta Sagar. Each of the three songs talks about a different legal issue, delivering a message of empowerment and awareness. The series consists of Sahisabekilla Neevu, a call for action to not tolerate abuse and violence in silence and raise your voice against it. The second song is Aado Makkalu, a reminder to let children prosper and shape a bright future for themselves and that getting a child married before the legally permissible age can be punished under the law with imprisonment and fine. The final song highlights how the law has made free education a right for all children under the age of 14. Listen to the songs here.
Samvidhaan Fellowship is a unique legal aid initiative where Nyaaya’s cohort of district lawyers will work with grassroots NGOs, state authorities and law students to make justice delivery mechanisms more accessible for those in the last mile Our first cohort of Samvidhaan Fellows reached 5 lakh people in Karnataka over a course of a year with 135 legal awareness sessions and 320 legal explainer videos. Amplifying this impact we welcomed 9 new district lawyers from across Karnataka as the second cohort of Samvidhaan Fellowship. They will now act as vital bridges and champion legal aid initiatives within their communities in partnership with our 15 exceptional partner organisations.

Nyaaya Hindi

Seven  lawyers onboarded as Samvidhaan Fellows : We launched Samvidhaan Fellowship for 7 lawyers across 5 districts in Bihar.  Our Fellows bring 3 – 20 years of experience across different courts of human rights. They are guided by a distinguished Advisory and Mentorship Group.
Our partners who are joining hands to drive our mission further in Bihar are Chanakya National Law University, Bihar State Legal Services Authority, Jeevika, Nirantar, Law Foundation, Devise, Woodpecker Child Protection Mission, JanMan People’s Collective, Bihar Development Collective, Gram Vaani, Khabar Lahariya.
In Bihar, we conducted 10 awareness sessions across Patna, Siwan, Kishanganj and Hajipur, 2 pro bono cases are ongoing before the High Court of Patna, 50 legal questions have been answered.

Nyaaya English

This year we created 75 new content pieces elaborating on key updates from the world of law this year and newer areas of  law that will definitely benefit our audience. One of the major highlights is a rehaul of our explainers on various criminal laws to incorporate the changes brought in by the Bharatiya Nyaay Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshyam Adhiniyam! 

Our WhatsApp-based helpline, Ask Nyaaya catering to our English, Hindi and Kannada speaking audiences answered over 5000 legal questions this year. We are grateful to our Access to Justice volunteers from NLSIU, SLS Noida and GNLU for their endless support in enabling us to reach this milestone. 

Way Forward

Standing at the threshold of our eighth year, we feel truly grateful for all our partners who made our journey thus far possible. We have some exciting plans for this ahead:

• Integrating Gliffic into Ask Nyaaya to better cater to the growing number of questions we get seeking legal information.
• Expanding our work in states, beyond Bihar and Karnataka, to build networks and fellowships to make justice more accessible for women and children.
• What remains the same is our commitment to enable simple, actionable, reliable and accessible legal information within the easy reach of our audience in the language and format they find relevant. 

We thank our partners, our funders, and our audience for trusting Nyaaya and look forward to their continued support in 2025 as well!