# Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad

The Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad (ABAP) (English: All India Lawyers' Council) is a right-wing Indian Umbrella Organization composed of lawyers associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It is often described in the media as the "RSS' legal front." The organisation claims to advocate for reform in the Indian Judicial system that aligns with Hindu traditions.
The ABAP was founded in 1992 by Dattopant Thengadi, a Hindu nationalist thinker, social activist, and labor leader who also founded the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh.

## History

The ABAP was conceptualized during the National Emergency of 1975–1977, a period when Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India at the time, declared a state of emergency during which various rights and freedoms were suspended. During this 21-month period, several regional legal organizations with Hindutva-leaning ideologies emerged, including the Nationalist Lawyers' Forum in West Bengal, which was established in 1977.
Later, in Maharashtra, the Junior Lawyers' Forum was formed in Nagpur during the 1980s. In Kerala, the Bharatiya Abhivasaka Parishad was founded in Ernakulam in 1987. In Uttar Pradesh, Adhivakta Parishad Uttar Pradesh was established in 1992.
On 7 September 1992, the ABAP was inaugurated by Dattopant Thengadi who set the goal of the organization as activism, particularly advocating for the implementation of certain constitutional provisions of interest to Hindus. One such provision was Article 48 of the Constitution of India, which concerns the prohibition of cow slaughter, as cows are considered sacred in Hinduism.
The Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad was formally constituted in Delhi on 21-22 of April 2001 and was registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1960 in the office of the Delhi Registrar of Societies on 4 May 1992.

## Organizational structure

The founding members of the ABAP included H. R. Khanna, E. Venkat Ramaiya, Rama Jois, Jitender Veer Gupta, Guman Mal Lodha, U. R. Lalit, and Ram Jethmalani.
The National Executive of the Parishad consists of President, vice-president, General Secretary, Organising Secretary, Treasurer, Secretaries, Zonal Secretaries and Members. Further, there is a National Council of the Adhivakta Parishad which has the highest policy and decision-making body in all matters related to the Constitution, Organisation, finance and other activities of the Parishad. All the members of the National Executive and 7 members from each State Level Constituent Organisation affiliated with the Parishad constituted the National Council.
Every State Level Constituent Organisation which is affiliated with the Parishad has its own State Executive body. District committees are formed under the guidance and approval of the State Executive Committee. For a large district, Sub-Divisional Committee may be formed under the guidance and approval of the District and State Committees. Individual Court Units are formed and function under the guidance and approval of the District and State Committees. These Court Units are the micro-level units of the Parishad. Further, to make the organisation gender inclusive and truly representational, under the conference of women Advocates in Indore, the Adhivakta Parishad resolved that in each functional unit will have one vice president, one joint secretary and two executive members who will be women. Apart from this women can occupy the posts of President and General secretary in some states and local units. Every three years a National Conference is held where thousands of advocates from all over the country participate. The National Council meets every two years, whereas the National Executive, where in the General secretaries of all the state units are special invitees, meets every year.

## Activities
### Nyaya Kendra

One of the flagship projects of the ABAP, the Nyaya Kendra's are legal aid centers established to make justice accessible to the socially and economically excluded section of society.

### Legal Awareness Camp

ABAP strives to organise Legal Awareness Camps at the doorstep of the targeted people/community in order to make them aware of their individual or collective rights as the citizens of the country.

### Educational Initiatives

The ABAP regularly organises National/State/District/Sub-Division/Court Level Seminars, Symposiums and Workshop. And also the Court units organise a periodical study circle in their respective units under the guidance of Senior Advocates and with the cooperation of the Junior Advocates on subject matters like a particular statute, act, or law, its application and operation in society, on new Bills, on an amendment to an Act, or on any other issue as required.

### Public Interest Litigation

The ABAP has utilised the tool of PIL from time to time to make interventions and espouse causes on behalf of the vulnerable sections of the society like the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the farmers, the informal sector workers, women. etc. Noticeably, the Parishad does not file cases on these issues in its name. The local grass-root activists and organisations are represented, assisted and guided by the advocates from Parishad.

### Study and Research Group

Similar to a study circle at the court units, a study and research group is formed and operates at every State and the National level to work on the Bills, new/amended Acts, Laws and Rules.
The ABAP publishes a quarterly bilingual magazine called 'Nyaya Pravah'.

### National Conventions

The ABAP has held fifteen national conferences. The fourteenth conference held in 2015 was attended by then Minister of Law and Justice Sadananda Gowda of the Bharatiya Janta Party.

## Prominent members

* N. Santosh Hegde, former judge of the Supreme Court and former Lokayukta of Karnataka.
* Adarsh Kumar Goel, appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court of India in 2014, served as the General Secretary of the Adhivakta Parishad.