3rd Roundtable Conference on implementation of Juvenile Justice System held
*Rehabilitation, re-integration of child should be ensured: CJ
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 23: Juvenile Justice Committee, Supreme Court of India, Juvenile Justice Committee High Court of J&K in collaboration with Government of Jammu & Kashmir and supported by UNICEF today organized Third J&K Roundtable Conference on Implementation of Juvenile System in the Union Territories of J&K & Ladakh.
Chairperson, Supreme Court Committee on Juvenile Justice Deepak Gupta, Chief Justice High Court of J&K Justice Gita Mittal, Chairman, Juvenile Justice Committee High Court of J&K Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Justice Tashi Rabastan, Justice Sanjeev Kumar, Advocate General J&K D C Raina, Commissioner Secretary Social Welfare Manoj Dwivedi, IGP Jammu Mukesh Singh, Secretary Law Achal Sethi, Chief Child Protection UNICEF India Soledad Herrero, Secretary Juvenile Justice Committee Abdul Rashid Malik, large number of judicial officers of subordinate courts, members of Juvenile Justice Boards, member of District Child Welfare Committees, members of NGOs, social organizations and several other stakeholders participated in the conference.
The aim of the conference was to provide an opportunity to all the stakeholders involved in the process of protection of child rights especially those who deals with the children in conflict with the law and children needs care and protection. During the proceedings of the programme, emphasis was laid on strengthening the Juvenile Justice System with special focus on implementation of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children Act, 2015 in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
Speaking during the inaugural session, Justice Deepak Gupta said with the shifting from State to Union Territory, the National Act is applicable here and we might face some challenges while implementing the new Juvenile Justice Act for protection of rights of children. Our efforts are always on to avoid the children’s getting their psyche damaged at a small age, if this happened the damage is difficult to get repaired leaving the child in trauma for whole of his/her life, he added.
Justice Deepak Gupta further said that if we want to have a society where all the children can live a happy life, then we must give them an opportunity to grow as normal child. Alternative care is one of the best examples to give positive atmosphere to the children’s, he added.
With regard to the functioning of Children Institutions, Justice Deepak Gupta said that all such institutions should be registered and strictly monitored by the Government. He also stressed on adopting effective Child Management Programme since the day child has joined the institution till the time he left the place.
Chief Justice High Court J&K Gita Mittal while delivering her keynote address said that no matter, we all are putting serious efforts in ensuring dignified life to all the children’s but still lot more required to be done in this regard. We need to focus on generating more awareness on the topic and the children especially be made aware of their rights and how they can protect them, she added.
She spoke about institutional care, strengthening the Juvenile Justice System, setting up of children courts, provision of funds from the Government for effective implementation of the Act, infrastructural up-dation and other important aspects of Juvenile Justice System.
Chief Justice further said that psychological assistance should be provided to the children whenever required. She also said that the childcare institutions must be registered so that the government has a clear control over the activities happening there.
She also highlighted a very important aspect of the system- rehabilitation and re-integration of the children with the family after he/she leave the children or correction homes. She said we should ensure that the child is properly rehabilitated and re-integrated with the family after getting freed from the children institutions.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey while addressing the gathering threw light on present Juvenile Justice System in the Union Territories and said that the deliberation during the conference will provide us better understanding of the system and would make us to move ahead in right direction.
Justice Sanjeev Kumar also spoke on the occasion and said that before we sensitize others, there is a need to sensitize ourselves about child rights. He said that the challenges that we would be facing with the enactment of Juvenile Justice Act 2015 need to be taken care of properly and this kind of programme provides us an opportunity to discuss the issues and redress the same with joint efforts.
Commissioner Secretary Social Welfare Manoj Dwivedi also spoke during the inaugural session and said every child is important for the society and for the protection of their rights; several measures have been taken by the Government but lot more to be done in this regard.
Chief, Child Protection UNICEF India Soledad Herrero appreciated the efforts of judiciary, Government and the stakeholders for doing service to the children’s. She assured the support of UNICEF for the cause and urged all the stakeholders to do a critical analysis of the success we have achieved so far in the field of child protection and also to note down the failures so that a strategy can be made keeping in mind the present scenario.
Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey in his presentation gave overview of JJ Act implementation in J&K, IGP Jammu Mukesh Singh spoke on initiatives by police for child protection in the backdrop of 2018 action plan and Secretary Law Achal Sethi spoke on update on Child Rights Legislation (Acts/Rules/ Ordinances).
Abdul Rashid Malik, Member Secretary, Juvenile Justice Committee, J&K High Court conducted the proceedings of the conference.
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