Ravindra B. Vaidya

Vaidya is an alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.

VARHAD works across districts of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, with field offices in Amravati and Nagpur, and coordinates with district legal services authorities, courts and probation officers. The organisation maintains a network of lawyers, paid an honorarium by VARHAD, who take up cases for prisoners without means from the lower courts through to the High Court. In one case cited by Vaidya, seven prisoners from Yavatmal who had been sentenced to death were acquitted after receiving legal representation arranged by the organisation.

Beyond legal aid, VARHAD works with the children and families of prisoners. It ran a balwadi, or pre-school, first inside Amravati jail and later outside it, and operates a scheme allowing children under sixteen to meet an imprisoned parent directly rather than through a barrier. It has helped prisoners' children obtain support under the Maharashtra government's Bal Sangopan Yojana and provides educational assistance up to Class 12.

The organisation also runs vocational training in trades such as tailoring, carpentry and food service, counselling inside prisons, and rehabilitation programmes for released prisoners.[2][3]