Legal Assistance Forum - WORKSHOP CUM SEMINAR ON ‘FURTHERING JUSTICE DELIVERY STANDARDS FOR CHILDREN’, ERNAKULAM, KERALA

WORKSHOP CUM SEMINAR ON ‘FURTHERING JUSTICE DELIVERY STANDARDS FOR CHILDREN’, ERNAKULAM, KERALA.
Date : 28-12-2007

Sri. P.I.Jose, National Secretary, LAF proposed vote of thanks. He assured the august gathering that the Forum would make all possible efforts to fulfill its mission to resolve various socio-legal problems of the poor and underprivileged. Mr. Jose particularly thanked Chief Justice of India, Justice Koshy and Smt. Sreemathi for their inspiring presence and addresses.

Working Sessiom

The first working session commenced after tea break with address by Hon’ble Mr. Justice R.Basant, Judge, Kerala High Court on the topic ‘Juvenile Justice Act Vision & Mission’. Justice Basant said Kerala has an effective Juvenile Justice System; however some issues of real concern are still to be addressed. He called upon various stake holders to ensure that every child gets his/her rights of parental care, education, protection against exploitation and child welfare in general. He deprecated the mind set of people who considers their children as their private property.

Hon’ble Mrs. Justice K.K.Usha, Former Chief Justice of Kerala and also Vice President of Sreenarayana Vanitha Samajam (an NGO) gave her valuable thoughts by saying that it is high time that the judiciary and stakeholders come together in implementing Juvenile Justice Act and Juvenile Justice Boards must dispose the cases relating to juvenile in conflict with law with utmost care keeping in mind the relevant provisions of Juvenile Justice Act.

Sri. Jayesh K.U., State Coordinator, Kerala, LAF and Sri Sonykutty George, Project officer, UNICEF explained the legal provisions of Juvenile Justice Act and Rules in Malayalam through visual presentation. The presentation was opened by exhibition of a popular Malayalam feature film on a child in conflict with law.

Smt. Mary, Vice-Principal, Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kalamassery, Kerala, presented the report of activities connected with the State wide survey conducted as part of the project. She elaborately mentioned about the Observations of the Juvenile Justice Board members and Probation officers during the survey.

Some of the observations made by them were:

Lack of Juvenile Homes for females.
Requirement of more educational and recreational facilities.
Constitution of Special Juvenile Police Units in all police stations.
Dedicated Probation Officers for juvenile.
Fulltime JJB with adequate infrastructure be put in place.

Post Lunch working sessions were divided into three segments based on the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act.

Session I : Pre- Inquiry proceedings

First segment on Pre- Inquiry proceedings was chaired by Sri. K.K.Mani, Addl. Director, Kerala Social Welfare Dept., who explained various practical aspects regarding the functioning of different stake holders involved in the process. He compared the provisions of the Act and Rules with the real life situations and suggested measures for improvement.

Sri. Sonykutty George, Project officer, UNICEF, while facilitating the session, emphasized the necessity of a pragmatic approach in the best interest of the child, in construing the Act and newly introduced rules.

Sri. A.J. Jose, Treasurer, LAF- Kerala Chapter shared his experience about interacting with the JJ system in the pre inquiry stage with the audience.

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