Ashok Agrwaal is a lawyer based in Delhi and practicing since 1983. He has worked in a variety of fields, civil and criminal, at the trial court level as well as in the appellate and constitutional courts. He has worked extensively on issues of justice and accountability, namely the issue of custodial violence and enforced disappearances in Punjab and Kashmir. He co-authored a book on enforced disappearances in Punjab, published by South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) and conducted a study of the effectiveness of the writ of habeas corpus in Jammu and Kashmir. A monograph based on this research was published by SAFHR. He has published several papers on topics related to law, justice, human rights, etc. Ashok is currently the Treasurer of the DaJI.
Jacob Nellithanam is a farmers’ rights activist based in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, currently and works for protecting and promoting indigenous knowledge and farming systems. He has been doing this for the last twenty five years and has worked in western M. P. before shifting to Bilaspur. Jacob is associated with several national and international efforts at promoting organic farming systems. He is the current Treasurer of the organisation.
Snehal Shah is a development researcher. Currently working as a Monitoring and Evaluation expert with a non-profit organisation, she has been involved in social movements that led to the change in development landscape of Delhi state during 2011-15. She has previously worked on research, M&E or consultancy roles with Centre for Policy Research – Accountability Initiative, Council for Social Development, Centre for Media Studies, Vidya Bhawan Society, Foundation for Ecological Security et al. Snehal is a postgraduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, having done Ayurvedic medicine for her graduation, by joining an NGO for grassroot work on community based natural resource conservation in the interior Himalayas of Uttarakhand. She is currently the Chairperson of the organisation.
Ravi Hemadri has worked over 25 years in areas like community mobilisation, training, advocacy and research on the rights and access to justice for Adivasis-Indigenous People, minorities, women, migrant workers and refugees. He has consistently worked over the past two decades with displaced people from development projects, ethnic conflicts and violence and has led advocacy, campaigns and networking around the issue of displacement. He was a Director from 2004 – 2010 of The Other Media, Delhi, an organisation that works on human rights, refugee rights, peace and environmental issues. He is the current Secretary of DaJI.