Know Our Team

SFLC.in is a dynamic team of volunteer experts with their eyes set to Defending digital freedoms. Our lawyers specialize in emerging technologies. Their expertise includes Constitutional law, Free Speech and Expression, Intellectual property with special emphasis on software licensing, Internet governance, Privacy and Data Protection. Our technologists dive into the depths of the ever-increasing convergence of technology and society helping make products that work for humanity.

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Founder

Mishi Choudhary

Founder

Mishi Choudhary is a technology lawyer and an online civil liberties activist with law practice in New York and New Delhi. The Open magazine calls her an emerging legal guardian of the free and open internet. She is currently the SVP and General Counsel at Virtru, a global data encryption and digital privacy provider.

In 2010, she founded SFLC.in. She served as its President and Executive Director until 2017. Under her direction, SFLC.in has become the premier non-profit organization representing the rights of Internet users and free software developers in India.

As of 2017, Mishi was the only lawyer in the world simultaneously to appear on briefs in the US and Indian Supreme Courts in the same term. In 2015 she was named one of the Asia Society’s 21 young leaders building Asia’s future. In 2016 she was inducted into the Aspen Global Leadership Network by the Aspen Institute. She advises Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression project and serves on the Board of IFEX and Global Network Initiative.

Core Team

Prasanth Sugathan

Legal Director

Prasanth Sugathan is a lawyer with years of practice in the fields of technology law, Intellectual property law, administrative law and constitutional law. He is an engineer turned lawyer and has worked closely with the Free Software community in India. He has appeared in many landmark cases before various Tribunals, High Courts and the Supreme Court of India. He has also deposed before Parliamentary Committees on issues related to Information Technology Act and Net Neutrality.

Arjun D'Souza

Senior Legal Counsel

Arjun is a graduate of Symbiosis Law School, Pune. He is certified as a privacy professional (CIPP/E), and has a PGD in Cyber Law and Forensics.
At SFLC.in, Arjun leads the Digital Defenders Network, and the Intermediary Liability vertical. He represents SFLC.in in litigations filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and Delhi High Court on matters affecting citizens’ digital rights. Before joining SFLC.in, Arjun worked as a legal researcher with a Justice of the Delhi High Court. He has defended civil and criminal briefs in the High Court and various district courts in New Delhi.

In addition to his passion for digital rights, Arjun enjoys good literature, writing, and football.

Nilay Nirav Shah

Counsel

Syed Haroon

Counsel

Syed Mohammad Haroon is a law graduate from Faculty of Law, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He holds immense experience in litigation and tech policy research. At SFLC.in, he handles the vertical of Internet Shutdowns and Digital Security Trainings along with assistance on SFLC.in’s litigation on various matters concerning digital rights. Before joining SFLC.in, Haroon has worked with various litigation firms, policy groups, and politicians advancing his skills in the socio-legal diaspora. In addition, Haroon has interest in films and photography.

Pranay Dixit

Fellow

Pranay holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) degree from Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne in Australia. Previously, he graduated with a B.B.A. LLB. (Hons.) degree from Jindal Global Law School, Sonipat. Through his extensive legal education, he has cultivated a strong interest in the intersection of law and technology – particularly in the areas of privacy and data protection, artificial intelligence regulation, digital competition and online safety laws.

Suraj Singh Baghel

Communication Associate

Suraj Singh Baghel holds a master’s in Media Governance from Jamia Millia Islamia and a bachelor’s in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Delhi. At SFLC.in, he manages social media, media outreach, and public relations. He is interested in the intersection of technology and society and its impact on day-to-day life.

Outside his professional life, Suraj talks about Cinema, Literature, and Humans.

Kiran S Kunjumon

Technologist

Debian Contributer

Mamtaa Verma

Treasurer

Mamtaa Verma is responsible for the administration and financial coordination for SFLC.IN She is a treasurer in SFLC.IN’ s board and in charge of Board meetings and related procedural activities. Prior to joining SFLC, she worked as an Executive with GE Capital Finance Pvt Ltd. Mamta is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Bachelor degree in Commerce ( Hons.) from the Delhi University.

 

 

Greeshma Chauhan

Graphic Designer

Greeshma Chauhan holds a Master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Amsterdam, with a specialisation in philosophy of technology. In addition to her academic experience, she has contributed to several interdisciplinary projects as a researcher, graphic designer and communication strategist. Greeshma also has over 6 years of experience working as a multidisciplinary artist, and her work explores societal and humanitarian issues through the conduit of artistic interventions and advocacy.

Orendra Singh

Full Stack Developer

Full stack developer at sflc.in

Vignesh

Technologist

Free software enthusiast

Rudhun Kumar

Office Executive

Rudhun is the backbone of our office. He is responsible for taking care of everything that is needed for things and people to work, from electricity to coffee.

Governing Body

Satish Babu

President

Satish Babu has been an advocate of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) since the late-1990s and an Internet Governance practitioner since 2012. He was the founding Director of the International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), and is a member of the At-Large Advisory Council of ICANN representing end-users’ interests in the Asia-Pacific region. He is the Chair of the Asia-Pacific School on Internet Governance (APSIG), a co-founder of the India School on Internet Governance (inSIG, https://insig.in), and a member of the Coordination Committee of the India IGF. Satish has been a programmer, software designer, and IT entrepreneur. He is a Board member of the Indo-US-Japan software services company, InApp Infotech, which he co-founded in 2000.

 

Faisal Farooqui

Secretary

Faisal Farooqui is a highly recognized IT entrepreneur who is among the trailblazers of his generation. He was among the lead petitioners who challenged the various sections of the IT Act, which finally resulted in a victory for the entire nation, when the Supreme Court declared 66A as illegal and diluted many other sections.

Faisal is the founder and CEO of MouthShut.com, India’s largest consumer review and recommendation platform, with reviews on lakhs of products

His work on Internet Technology, Branding, Entrepreneurship, social media and e-commerce has appeared or been profiled in almost all major newspaper and magazines and TV channels in India. He served on the Internet Task Force of NASSCOM and was an advisor to TIE for India’s new Copyright Act. The British High Commission has included Faisal among the list of top 50 young leaders who’ve demonstrated potential to change the country.

Faisal has a degree in Information Systems and Finance from State University of New York.

He is a self-confessed tech geek, enjoys growing vegetables and loves horse-riding.

Mamtaa Verma

Treasurer

Mamtaa Verma is responsible for the administration and financial coordination for SFLC.IN She is a treasurer in SFLC.IN’ s board and in charge of Board meetings and related procedural activities. Prior to joining SFLC, she worked as an Executive with GE Capital Finance Pvt Ltd. Mamta is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a Bachelor degree in Commerce ( Hons.) from the Delhi University.

 

 

Dr. Nagarjuna G

Executive Member

Dr. Nagarjuna G is one of the founding members of the FSF India and is currently serving as its Chairperson. He is a faculty at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education,TIFR in Mumbai. He is an author and maintainer of the GNU project GNOWSYS, and leads the gnowledge.org lab in Mumbai. He holds M.Sc.(Biology), M.A. (Philosophy) from University of Delhi and Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in the area of Philosophy of Science.

Prof. Rahul De

Ex President

Prof. Rahul De is the Hewlett-Packard Chair Professor in ICT for Sustainable Economic Development at IIM Bangalore. He has a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, an MBA from the University of Delhi, and a Ph.D. from the Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

 

Venkatesh Hariharan

Executive Member

Venkatesh Hariharan is the India representative for the Open Invention Network, an organization that protects the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community from patent litigation and Public Policy Director for FOSS United, an organization that represents the FOSS community in India. He set up the Data Governance Network, a network of think-tanks, as Senior Fellow of the IDFC Institute before taking on his current role. Prior to that, he was Director Fintech for the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSPIRT), that built Public Digital Infrastructure like IndiaStack (www.indiastack.org). In this role, he helped some of India’s largest banks adopt India Stack, and its components like eKYC and the Unified Payment Interface. He is also a member of the Governing Board of the Software Freedom Law Center, a law firm that represents the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) communities.

 

Hariharan has served as Head of Public Policy and Government Affairs with Google, and as Corporate Affairs Director for Red Hat in the Asia-Pacific region. He has worked on key policy issues like Internet regulations, open standards, software patents, open source in government, and Indian language computing. He is a former Executive Editor of Express Computer and the first Indian to be selected for the prestigious Knight Science Journalism Fellowship (1998-99) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Hariharan has delivered talks on technology and policy issues at World Foresight Forum, Open World Forum and at leading academic institutions like MIT, IIT Bombay, IIT Guwahati, IIIT-Bangalore, IIM Bangalore and many others. Hariharan is interested in the intersection of technology, society and policy, with a specific focus on democratizing access to knowledge.

 

Sairee Chahal

EXECUTIVE MEMBER

Sairee Chahal is the Founder, CEO of SHEROES – a community platform for women, offering support, resources, opportunities, and interactions via Sheroes.com and the SHEROES App. Sairee is credited with building up women at work and future-of-work conversations in India, besides building a strong technology play to solve the problems of gender disparity in India. A technology entrepreneur, Sairee has straddled the best of both worlds in her ventures Newslink, Fleximoms, and now SHEROES. Her community-meets-deep technology approach has made SHEROES a globally formidable platform, changing the game for women and their aspirations. Over a million women have been directly benefited, and under Sairee’s leadership, SHEROES aims to impact over 100 million women in the next five years.

Advisory Board

Alolita Sharma

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Alolita is a senior manager at AWS where she leads open source observability engineering and collaboration for OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Cortex, Grafana. Alolita is co-chair of the CNCF Technical Advisory Group for Observability, member of the OpenTelemetry Governance Committee and a board director of the Unicode Consortium. She has served on the boards of the OSI. Alolita has led engineering teams at Wikipedia, Twitter, PayPal and IBM. Alolita has been one of the core group of people who has helped find SFLC.in and has been a supporter since its inception in various roles.

 

Anivar Aravind

Advisory Board Member

Anivar A. Aravind is Founder Executive Director of Indic Project, a civic-tech non-profit initiative works on language engineering, technology standards and digital rights of native language users. He is a software engineering executive, mentor and strategist with 12+ years progressive experience in mentoring many free and open source software projects and start-ups in social technology space to find their feet, assisting in various capacities. Anivar’s passion is in the intersection of technology, policy and law with from the perspective of human rights & software freedom.

Anivar has a long track record of initiating, sustaining and running various technical, policy and developer platforms and mobilizing people support and participation in such initiatives. He has deep understanding on Internet ecosystem and standardisation process and actively engages with Internet Governance and various digital rights campaigns.

He has taken leadership role in free Software and free Knowledge communities of scale like Mozilla, Libreoffice, & Wikipedia. Over the years he helped in building and sustaining FOSS language technology communities like Swathanthra Malayalam Computing(SMC) in India, Initiated successful advocacy efforts on ICT public policy Improvements, and contributed to the launch and maintenance of many thematic and regional networks & conferences. He is a Mozilla Rep and contributing member of Software in Public Interest(SPI), Python Software Foundation(PSF) &The Document Foundation(TDF).

Bishakha Datta

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Bishakha Datta (@busydot) works on gender and sexuality in digital spaces, runs the non-profit Point of View in Mumbai, writes and films non-fiction, is part of the wikipedia family, and serves on several non-profit boards. In all her work, Bishakha explores marginal, invisible, and silenced points of view – or those considered illegitimate. Her documentary work includes In The Flesh, a film on the lives of three sex workers, and Taza Khabar, which delves into a unique women-run rural newspaper. Books she edited include Nine Degrees of Justice, a collection of essays on the struggle against violence on women in India, and And Who Will Make the Chapatis?, an anthology on rural women’s political participation.

Deepak Maheshwari

Advisory Board Member

Deepak Maheshwari is a public policy practitioner with a keen interest in its interplay with technological innovation and socio-economic development. An oft-invited speaker, his views, reviews and comments have been published and cited widely.

Currently, he is Senior Consultant at Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP), Advisor at the Indicus Centre for Financial Inclusion (ICFI) and Advisory Board Member of Software Freedom Law Centre (sflc.in).

As Senior Visiting Fellow at Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), he led the project to support Department of Telecommunications during India’s G20 Presidency. He has also been a Distinguished Fellow at Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) and Senior Fellow at Centre For The Digital Future (CDF). He also served as the first CEO of Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI).

Earlier, he led the public policy function in Microsoft, Mastercard, Symantec, and Sify for over two decades spanning India, South Asia, ASEAN and China regions.

A strong believer in the transformative power of public private partnerships, he co-founded the National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) and the ITU-APT Foundation of India and helped form the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

He has volunteered as Global Chair of the IEEE Internet Initiative, Advisor to the IEEE Global Public Policy Committee, Secretary of the ISP Association of India (ISPAI) and Advisory Board Member of the IIM Ahmedabad-Idea Telecom Center of Excellence. He has also served on several government committees – including that on AI and Accessibility.

Geeta Seshu

Advisory Board Member

Mumbai-based Geeta Seshu was once principal correspondent of ‘The Indian Express’. Today, she lectures on the media at several universities, including Bombay University, SNDT University, Marathwada University and Symbiosis. She was also the editor of the magazine, ‘Humanscape’. She has written for WFS and one of her recent pieces dealt with a filmmaker’s attempt to understand the life of her domestic help.

Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Dr. Jaijit Bhattacharya is the Founder & CEO of Zerone Microsystems Pvt Ltd & President of the Centre for Digital Economy Policy Research. He is a noted expert in Technology policies and Technology led societal transformation. He has had a significant impact on the thinking around indigenous development of key digital utilities. He is a former head of the Centre for Fourth Industrial Revolution in India, World Economic Forum and former Head and Partner, Economics and Policy Practice, KPMG. He is a recipient of the APJ Abdul Kalam Award for innovation in governance, and Global Corporate Affairs Leadership award for a decade of contribution, and the “Shiksha Rattan Award” for excellence in teaching. He was also an Advisor to the President’s office of Sri Lanka on e-Governance and ICT Policy as part of the Centre for e-governance.

Osama Manzar

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Osama Manzar is Senior Ashoka Fellow and British Chevening Scholar who founded Digital Empowerment Foundation which has empowered more than 25 million people in India and several global south. He has served on various committees at MeiTY, MIB, CII, and served boards of APC, World Summit Awards, World Wide Web Foundation’s A4AI, Down To Earth, and many more.

twitter: @osamamanzar

Prabir Purkayastha

Advisory Board Member

Prabir Purkayastha is a an engineer and a science activist in the power, telecom and software sectors. He is one of the founding members of Delhi Science Forum and its Secretary. He has written and published extensively a variety of science and technology policy issues in several leading journals and newspapers including ‘Economic and Political Weekly’, ‘Times of India’ and a number of Delhi Science Forum publications.

Priti Krishtel

Advisory Board Member

Priti Krishtel is Co-Founder and Director of Treatment Access of I-MAK. Priti has obtained her law degree from New York University (NYU) School of Law and has worked as a health attorney in the U.S., Switzerland and India. Prior to founding I-MAK, she served as the Senior Project Officer of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit in India.

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh

Advisory Board Member

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh is an Open Source Initiative board member. He is Founding International and Managing Editor of peer -reviewed journal First Monday and Programme Leader of FLOSS at UNU-MERIT. He has undertaken several studies on Free Software which he terms “FLOSS” – an alternative term for Free Software which he is credited with coining.

Smriti Parsheera

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Smriti Parsheera is a lawyer and public policy researcher. Her work focuses on issues of data governance and digital rights, regulatory processes and competition policy. She is currently a Fellow with the CyberBRICS Project hosted by FGV Law School, Brazil and a PhD scholar at IIT Delhi’s School of Public Policy. Before this, she was involved in setting up and led the technology policy work at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. She has also worked with the Competition Commission of India, the United Nations Development Programme and the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission.

Tahir Amin

Advisory Board Member

Tahir Amin is I-MAK’s Co-Founder and Director of Intellectual Property. Tahir practised as a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales with two of the leading IP firms in the UK and also served as an in-house global IP manager for a multinational company.He has over 15 years experience in prosecuting, licensing, opposing and litigating trademarks, patents, and designs.

Vickram Crishna

Advisory Board Member

Vickram Crishna, is a technologist, a human rights activist, an activist for personal privacy protection, and has been a practitioner and a commentator on media, technology and management practices. He was  involved with the development of the Hawking Communicator, software designed to replace the traditional point-and-click computer interface paradigm. He is currently engaged in doctoral research related to the development of communication technologies for persons with palpable physical/sensory challenges.

Alumni

Gyan Prakash Tripathi

Fellow

Gyan Prakash Tripathi is a Fellow at SFLC.in where he works on free speech and open source issues. Previously, Gyan has worked with a range of stakeholders in India, including members of parliament, digital rights organisations, research institutions, and think tanks. He has also been involved in and contributed to Internet governance debates as an APIGA2023 and inSIG2021 Fellow.

Tejaswini Singh

Community Manager

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Radhika Jhalani

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Radhika is currently a Counsel at SFLC.in. Prior to this, she was Digital Defender fellow at SFLC.in. She graduated in Philosophy from Hindu College and did her Law from Delhi University in 2019. She is passionate about culture, environment, and mental health apart from technology and human rights. She previously ran operations for an online film archive.

Shoaib Mir

Communication Associate

Shoaib is passionate about telling stories that make a difference and has reported on a wide range of topics from conflict to humanitarian crises.

Manan Katyal

Research Fellow

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Mythili Srinivasamurthy

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Mythili Srinivasamurthy completed B.A.,L.L.B. from University Law College, Bangalore University (2018) and L.L.M. (Corporate and Financial Law) from Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University (2021). Prior to joining SFLC.in in September, 2021, she practiced before the District Courts, Family Courts, Company Law Tribunals, Debt Recover Tribunals, Arbitration Tribunals, Consumer Protection Forums and High Courts at Delhi as well as Bengaluru. She has also worked as a legal consultant with different start-up ventures advising them on transactions, documentation, registration, legal compliance and regulatory issues. At SFLC.in, she heads litigation and is also involved in as research on laws regarding Intermediary Liabilities, Data Privacy and Data Protection.

Nikhil Kumar Singh

Graphic Designer

Nikhil Kumar Singh was in-charge of making graphics for blog-posts and social media. He was interested in technology and web development as well.

Kahaan Mehta

Research Fellow

Kahaan Mehta is a 2021 graduate from Symbiosis Law School, Pune. He has been associated with SFLC.in in various capacities (intern, research assistant) since 2019, and is currently working as a Research Fellow. Presently, his work focuses on privacy and the law and regulation of artificial intelligence.

Kahaan is deeply interested in research on the impact of technological disruptions on conventional legal principles. He previously assisted the research of academics and lawyers who were visiting faculty at the Daksha Fellowship, where he also worked as a teaching assistant.

He enjoys reading medieval kingdoms, and is a regular at theaters and classical concerts (in the audience!), and has a developing interest in heraldry.

Rattanmeek Kaur

Research Fellow

Rattanmeek Kaur is a Fellow at SFLC.IN. She works on issues related to freedom of speech and expression and assists with litigation. She is a graduate in Law and Arts from Gujarat National Law University, Gandhinagar.

Raju Devidas

Volunteer Technologist

Sanjeev Prasad

Communications Manager

Sanjeev Prasad takes care of communications for SFLC.in. He has completed his Master’s Degree in Philosophy from University of Delhi. He also takes keen interest in acting and production. Prior to joining SFLC.in, he was a senior copywriter at The Creative Chimney

Apurva Singh

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Apurva was a volunteer legal counsel with SFLC.in. She handled the privacy project and Parliamentary outreach at SFLC.in. She is a law graduate from Dr. RMLNLU, Lucknow. Prior to this, she has worked as a LAMP fellow with PRS Legislative research.

Kushagra Sinha

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Litigation and Intermediary Liability lead

Kushagra completed his five year course in law from National Law University Odisha in 2015. He started his career as an in-house counsel with the corporate advisory team of Ola Cabs, Bangalore. After finishing his stint with Ola, Kushagra switched to litigation in 2017. Having practiced in the courts for a few years, he has gained considerable experience in diverse areas of law, having represented clients before various tribunals, the trial courts in Delhi, the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He joined the SFLC.in team in April, 2020.

Sundar Krishnan

Ex- Executive Director

Sundar comes with over 20 years of experience in Management and Coordination of large and complex projects in Livelihood and Education domain including Information & Communication Technology (ICT) for Development.

He has led large teams with a demonstrated track record of developing and scaling complex operational models in the education and development sectors, that has resulted in high impact outcomes with multiple state governments in India.

Before joining SFLC, he has worked with International NGOs, Academia and Private Organisations like UNDP, Media Lab Asia,. Interra Information Technologies, American India Foundation and Reach to Teach.

Sundar holds a Masters in Electronic Science and MBA from Delhi University.

Shashank Mohan

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Shashank has pursued his law from Symbiosis Law School, Pune in 2014 and has since worked in various disciplines such as – Intellectual Property Rights, International Taxation, Corporate Law, Education Policy and Human Rights. His interests include Technology Law, Intellectual Property Law and Constitutional Law. He is also enthusiastic about policy research and believes that meaningful solutions can only breed from quality research and implementation.

Sukarn Singh Maini

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Sukarn Singh Maini procured his B.Sc. L.L.B. (Hons.) from Gujarat National Law University in 2013. He worked as a litigator for three years in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur. He has keenly followed the developments in FOSS since 2004. He joined SFLC.in in the year 2016. His work primarily revolves around protecting and promoting digital rights and digital freedoms by researching, advocating and litigating in the issues of Free and Open Source Software, Privacy and Data Protection, Digital Security, Encryption, Aadhaar, Internet shutdowns, Freedom of Speech and Expression, Creative Commons, Software Patents, Online Harassment, Network Neutrality and Intermediary Liability.

Aditi Chaturvedi

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Priyanka Chaudhuri

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Priyanka Chaudhuri joined SFLC.in after procuring his B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur in 2016. At SFLC.in, her work focuses on a range of issues including  freedom of speech and expression, intermediary liability. She represents the organization at various legal and policy platforms, and has been involved in several crucial campaigns that brought about substantial changes in India’s technology regulatory landscape. Her areas of professional interest include technology law, human rights law,  constitutional law and Intellectual property laws.

Tripti Jain

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Tripti has pursued her Ba.LLB (Hons.) from Amity Law School,Delhi. At SFLC.in, Tripti is involved in various projects that includes research and advisory on a variety of issues such as privacy rights, civil rights, trademarks and copyrights.

Before joining SFLC.in, Tripti was assisting Former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Mr. S.Y Quraishi on a research project pertaining to numerous issues plaguing South Asian democracies. She wants to work towards the country’s developmental agenda and her decisions are not driven by fear or societal divisiveness.

Tripti is enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi as an advocate.

Arjun Jayakumar

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Arjun Jayakumar joined SFLC.in after procuring his B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from the National Law University, Delhi in 2013. At SFLC.in, his work focuses on a range of issues including surveillance and privacy, freedom of speech and expression, network neutrality, intermediary liability, Internet governance, and promotion of FOSS. He frequently represents the organization at various legal and policy platforms, and has been involved in several crucial campaigns that brought about substantial changes in India’s technology regulatory landscape. His areas of professional interest include technology law, human rights law and constitutional law.

Basil Ajith

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Basil was a practising advocate who associates with SFLC.IN as Counsel. He has conducted Digital Security Training sessions across different organisations, and conducted research for SFLC.IN. Basil is a computing enthusiast codes useful scripts in Python. He had undergone formal education on Digital Forensics (as part of his Master’s of Law programme). As a result of this, he is a FOSS enthusiast and uses GNU/Linux based tools.

Biju K. Nair

Ex- Executive Director

Biju K. Nair is a litigator having worked in various jurisdictions across India. His areas of practice extend from Corporate and Commercial Law, Arbitration & Dispute Resolution, Property Law, Competition Law, Trademarks and Copyrights and Constitutional Law. Biju K. Nair earned his Law Degree (B.A LL.B.) from Army Institute of Law. He served as an  Executive Director from Jan 2017- April 2019.

Sarath M S

Volunteer Technologist

Sarath was our chief technologist. He is a FOSS activist and a software engineer working at SFLC.in. He has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and has a 9 year professional experience in software development. He is a generalist and loves jumping into unknown waters and solve new problems. Having worked in large multinational companies to startups, and as an independent consultant for a while, Sarath is now with SFLC.in, in pursuit of his passion for Free Software. At SFLC.in, he works as a systems administrator, software developer, technology analyst and advisor. He has been developing the Internet Shutdowns tracker, an interactive map of Internet shutdowns in India.

Shobhit Chaudhry

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Shobhit Chaudhry is a lawyer working with SFLC.in with his work being focused on range of issues including encryption, intermediary liability, software patents, internet governance, network neutrality and promotion of FOSS. Prior to joining SFLC, he has worked with Singh & Singh Lall & Sethi, wherein he was involved with different facets of intellectual property prosecution, litigation & enforcement. He has also worked with AIESEC, world’s largest youth-run organization and international platform for leadership development, cross-cultural interactions and global volunteer exchange.

Shobhit earned his B.A.LL.B. from Army Institute of Law in 2015. He is enrolled as an Advocate with Bar Council of Delhi  and is empaneled as an IP Facilitator under the government’s Start Ups Intellectual Property Protection (SIPP) scheme.

Vaishali Verma

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Vaishali Verma completed her B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi in 2015. She pursued her LL.M. in Cyber Law and Cyber Security from National Law University, Jodhpur in 2016. She is enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi and is UGC-NET qualified. Her areas of interest include Cyber Law, Constitutional and Administrative Law and Criminal Law. She has participated and been a speaker at multiple national and international conferences, seminars and panels. At SFLC, she has been involved in litigation as well as research and policy work, with special focus on Freedom of Speech and Expression, Access, Privacy and Data Protection.

Nehmat Kaur

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Nehmat Kaur joined the organization after completing her B.A. LL.B. (Hons.) from Jindal Global Law School, NCR of Delhi. While at SFLC.in, she has worked on the law and policy surrounding right to privacy, corporate surveillance of data, issues relating to access of internet, and online free speech. Constitutional law, environment law, and access to education are other areas of special interest to her.

Surendran Balachandran

Volunteer Technologist

He was our chief technologist. He is a FOSS activist and a software engineer working at SFLC.in. He studied law from Indian Law Institute  At SFLC.in, he works as a systems administrator, software developer, technology analyst and advisor. He is currently working with SocialCops.

Shagun Belwal

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Shagun completed her BSL LLB from the Indian Law Society’s Law College, Pune. Her areas of interest include Intellectual Property Law, Media Law and Constitutional Law.

Rishab Bailey

Volunteer

Mr. Rishab Bailey is an alumni from the National Law School of India University, and began practice with the litigation team at Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co., Mumbai. He is from the last two years been working with various human rights activists and NGO’s in Delhi. Notable amongst them are the Society for Knowledge Commons – which aims to use the FOSS model based on collaboration, community and shared ownership of knowledge to address challenges faced in areas such as education, the sciences and arts. Currently he is working as a legal consultant with National Institute of public Finance and Policy.

Harjodh Singh

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Harjodh Singh is a lawyer who has completed his LL.M. in Intellectual Property Rights from National Law University, Jodhpur. Prior to joining SFLC.IN, Harjodh was a lawyer in reputed law firms dealing in Corporate Law, Litigation and Intellectual Property. Prior to his LL.M., Harjodh did a five year BA.LLB. course from Army Institute of Law, Mohali affiliated to Punjab University, Patiala. He was associated with us for a period of six months in 2013.

Prakash Deb Roy

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Prakash Deb Roy is a graduate engineer with a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering from West Bengal University of Technology. He completed his LL.B with Hons. in Intellectual Property Rights from Rajiv Gandhi School of Intellectual Property Law, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He joined SFLC.IN for six months project on Internet-governance in 2013.

Shashikanth Reddy Palvatla

Volunteer Technologist

Shashikanth is a data privacy and a free software activist. He believes that the Internet plays a key role in empowering people and it must remain open, inclusive and free from discrimination. He is a member of the Mozilla India community and actively participates in advocacy campaigns. He also volunteers for the Free Software Movement of India. He received his Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS PILANI in 2016 and also dreams of a world where there is equality in opportunity.

Prosenjit Mondal

Volunteer Legal Counsel

A lawyer who has completed his LL.B with Hons. in Intellectual Property Rights from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. He has completed his B.Tech in Information Technology from National Institute of Technology, Durgapur. He is a IBM certified professional in Linux TCP/IP Administration. His expertise lies in the field of Patent Law, Copyright Law, Trademark Law and Technology Laws. He joined SFLC.IN for a six months project on Internet-governance in 2013.

Talish Ray

Volunteer

Talish Ray is a lawyer with almost a decade of experience fighting battles inside courtrooms. Her areas of practice include Property and Intellectual Property Law, Corporate Law and Commercial Law, Arbitration and dispute resolution, Constitutional and Administrative law, Competition and Information Technology Law. She worked with SFLC.IN for two years.

Amrita Sangeeth

Volunteer Legal Counsel

Amrita is a lawyer who has a LLM from the University of Northampton,England. Experience in litigation, from tribunals to High Court. Practiced as a Lawyer in the High Court of Kerala, Labour courts, Consumer protection Forum, dealt with cases relating to labour laws, consumer protection laws, Civil and criminal laws, appeared as an interpreter to courts. Been an active member of a charitable society in India and abroad. In which conducted counseling, providing free legal aid and camps for Law awareness and environmental protection classes to public, settling disputes, against racism etc. She is practising at Kerala High Court.