Srinagar– The Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh inaugurated one day Annual Stakeholders Consultation on Children in Conflict with Law here at Tagore Hall in presence of Justice Tashi Rabstan; Justice Sindhu Sharma; Justice Puneet Gupta; Justice Javed Iqbal Wani; Justice Mohd. Akram Chowdhary and Justice Rajesh Sekhri. The Consultation meet was organized by the Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under the aegis of Child Welfare Committee, Supreme Court of India in association with the Social Welfare Department, UT of Jammu and Kashmir, and Social and Tribal Welfare Department, UT of Ladakh.
The Chief Justice in his inaugural address while stressing upon the theme of this year’s meet traced the history of law relating to Child Rights and said that earlier the focus was on the victim of the offence and now there is paradigm shift towards the welfare of Child in Conflict with Law. The Chief Justice underlined that collaboration of stakeholders is needed to restore such children back into the system. Recalling the recent visits to Child Care Institutions at Nishat, Srinagar and Khansahib, Budgam, the Chief Justice appreciated the efforts of Social Welfare Department in creating and maintaining suitable infrastructure at both the places.
Highlighting the circumstances leading the child onto the wrong side of law Justice Tashi in his special address appealed to one and all to prioritize prevention over punishment. He called upon the stakeholders to extend empathy and unwavering commitment towards the wellbeing of children in conflict with law.
The consultation unfolded across a series of meticulously curated technical sessions that illuminated the multifaceted aspects of child protection. In the first technical session Ms. Sonali Kumari, Assistant Director, NIPCCD, Regional Centre, Mohali was the resource person, who deliberated upon the topic “Prevention and Early Intervention”. In her Powerpoint presentation, she delved into detailed strategies that could pre-empt adversities, emphasizing the pivotal role of proactive measures. She was also the resource person for the fourth technical session in which continuing her presentation she explained in detail the rehabilitation mechanisms and the potential of restorative practices in rebuilding young lives. Both the abovesaid sessions were interactive and the participants also threw volley of questions to the resource person for clarification.
The 2nd and 3rd technical Sessions were on the topics “Diversion, Alternatives to Detention, and Non-custodial Alternatives” and “Right to Fair Trial and Child-Friendly Procedures” in which resource persons were Justice (Rtd.) B.A. Kirmani and Justice (Retd.) M.H. Attar. In his discourse, Justice B.A. Kirmani while referring to the report of Crime Record Bureaupublished for the year 2020-2021 highlighted that the popular notion about the Child in Conflict with law belonging to poor and marginalized section of the society, is misconceived as the figures for the State of MP and Maharashtra reveal otherwise. Justice M.H. Attar underscored the significance of child-friendly legal processes and a just trial system in nurturing a sense of justice in young minds.
In the last Technical session, the resource person, Owais Wani, DySP (HQ), Srinagar deliberated upon the topic “Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility and Age of Criminal Majority (Preliminary Assessment)”. He gave historical perspective regarding fixing of age of criminality in various jurisdictions and referred to various constitutional provisions as well as reasons for fixing the age of criminality at 18 years. He also presented the critical analysis of various provisions of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2015.
In his welcome address, Amit Kumar Gupta, Member Secretary, Juvenile Justice Committee gave an overview of the programme and said that this UT level Consultation is being organized by the JJ Committee in order to have deliberations by engaging experts, representatives of different organizations and frontline workers working with the children in conflict with law to take stock of the work done so far and for the identification of measurable concreate priority actions. On the occasion, vote of thanks was proposed by Ms. Harvinder Kour, Mission Director, Mission Vatsalya, J&K.
The inaugural session was physically attended by D.C Raina, Advocate General,Shahzad Azeem, Registrar General, MK Sharma, Principal Secretary to Chief Justice, Registry Officers and Officers from Civil and Police Administration. Besides this, Sheetal Nanda, Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare Department, UT of J&K, Padma Angmo, Commissioner Secretary, Social and Tribal Welfare Department, UT of Ladakh, Spalzes Angmo, Member Secretary, Ladakh Legal Services Authority joined the consultation virtually.
The proceedings were conducted by Mr. Jahangir Bakshi, Secretary, DLSA Srinagar.
Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now
Be Part of Quality Journalism |
Quality journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce and despite all the hardships we still do it. Our reporters and editors are working overtime in Kashmir and beyond to cover what you care about, break big stories, and expose injustices that can change lives. Today more people are reading Kashmir Observer than ever, but only a handful are paying while advertising revenues are falling fast. |
| ACT NOW |
| MONTHLY | Rs 100 |  |
| YEARLY | Rs 1000 | |
| LIFETIME | Rs 10000 | |
