Our Mission and Theory of Change
The Centre for Justice, Law, and Society is a multidisciplinary research centre at Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University in Sonipat, India
CJLS adopts queer intersectional feminist approaches and builds future feminist leaders through the creation of spaces that facilitate conversations for critical engagement with the law. Our approach combines research, education, with activism and advocacy, and recognises the importance of interdisciplinary engagement with the law.
We dedicate our energies towards adopting a bottoms-up approach in our interactions with key stakeholders. Our core belief is that long-term institutional change can only be brought about pursuant to consultative and immersive advocacy that creates spaces for persons or groups with lived experiences of marginalisation.
CJLS acts as a facilitator of sustainable and systemic institutional change by building solidarity networks among activists, scholars, and grassroots movements working to advance transformative and radical social change through legal and policy interventions.
We center the voices of marginalised persons and catalyse solidarity among networks to collectively advance social justice and see ourselves as facilitators of various conversations, legal and policy interventions and collaborations with social movements. We do not claim to speak for any movements and over the years have continued to reflect on and learn from our activist and scholar friends to inform our approaches towards addressing issues of law and marginalisation.
KEY DOCUMENTS
Through our endeavours and initiatives, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with activists, scholars, lawyers and young students, all of whom are key stakeholders in addressing issues of law and marginalisation.
Past and Ongoing Collaborations
CJLS collaborates with key stakeholders including social movements, grassroots organisations and activists, non-profits, scholars, lawyers, parliamentarians, judges and students.
What People Are Saying
“CJLS has been a strong pillar of support in the community. Their work has been inspirational and is inclusive by getting under represented members of community to join in.”
Zainab Patel, Lead Inclusion and Diversity, Pernod Ricard India
“CJLS brings academic rigour combined with a unique intersectional and participatory approach to their work. Their strong connections and commitment to foreground movement actors and creating space for them to articulate their priorities is commendable. In all our collaborations, CJLS has always displayed a willingness to go the extra mile and take responsibility to guide processes to bring them to a conclusion and at the same time ensure the processes remain inclusive and everyone's opinion is taken on board.”
Rupsa Malik, Independent Consultant
“CJLS is highly committed to advocacy that is rooted in the demands of the communities and individuals who they are aiming to serve. CJLS sees the intersection of movements, including where there may be fault lines between movements, and is proactive in identifying legal and advocacy framings that bridge rather than marginalize. On abortion decriminalization, CJLS intentionally advocated for and led an approach that focused on the most marginalized groups, reflecting their core belief that our legal strategies must be radically inclusive.”
Payal Shah, Physicians for Human Rights
“Their research and reports are ground-breaking.”
Professor Sital Kalantry, Seattle University School of Law