I am Fr Andrew Dantis, CSsR, from the Vice Province of Majella, Mumbai, India. I made my first profession in 2010. Throughout the seminary formation, I have been reflecting on the missionary priority that our vice province has been ministering to the Migrants. In our vice province, we have been witnessing migrants from different parts of the country and the challenges they go through, particularly when they are not able to access their constitutional rights and even fundamental rights to food, security, and a life of dignity becomes difficult for them to achieve.
After my Pastoral Year, with the permission of the Vice Provincial, I was allowed to study for a Masters in Social Work. This course helped me to understand the issues of Migrants scientifically and thus helped me to begin the PAHUNCH organization under Mukti society as an adventure of the Vice Province of Majella in the year 2018. Through the Pahunch organization, the Vice Province has been able to respond to the challenges the migrants have been facing and provide them with the necessary care and attention that is required to live a dignified life.
Over time, I also noticed that migrants face issues that require proper legal aid in order to respond to the discrimination they face both at home and in society. When they return home to their villages, many are seen with suspicion, especially the unmarried youngsters, while in cities, many other migrants are seen as outsiders who are intruders and grabbers of resources meant for the locals.
A lot of women would come to me to ask for help when they were abused or cheated. I would take them to different lawyers who could find help. However, as this demand increased over time, it was difficult to approach lawyers who could argue their cases pro bono in the court of law or even be genuine in helping the poor migrants so that they could avail justice.
I decided to study LLB myself to respond to this pressing need to provide migrants with the opportunity to receive justice from the law courts. By the Grace of God and the support of the confreres in the Vice Province, I completed my LLB studies at Mumbai University.
This year, 2024, I enrolled as an Advocate in the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa. Soon, with the help and support of the Advocate fraternity, I will reach out to migrants with Legal Aid so that they are not deprived of justice just because they are migrants.
There is a great need for legal aid in advocacy, rights-based intervention, and policy-based initiatives, which are the need of the hour, especially where migrants are concerned in our country. There are not many focused laws on the empowerment of migrants. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the lawyers to interpret the existing laws for the benefit of the migrants.
May St Alphonsus Liguori, a lawyer himself, intercede for me in this noble cause to empower the Migrants.
Fr Andrew Dantis CSsR
Vice Province of Majella
