Mr. Vijay Hansaria, President LAF, welcomed every participant and started with Power Point Presentation on Monitoring Mechanism and provided a brief overview on the role of Police and Juvenile Justice Board and requested Hon’ble Mr. Justice Kabir to preside over the meeting.

Justice Kabir expressed his appreciations for the draft monitoring mechanism proposed by the LAF. He said that there should not only be developments in the system but a sustainable effort to make them work. He said that LAF has suggested a wonderful mechanism for the Juvenile Justice system and this system should be used as a road map for what needs to be done and should be implemented all over India.

Hon’ble Justice Sathasivam, while introducing the topic the Juvenile Justice System and mentioned that in 2009 Conference the Chief Justices of India decide to setup a Judge committed on Juvenile Justice in every High Court to oversee the functioning. He suggested some important points like Probation officers should be trained properly as they act as reformers and heelers while dealing with Juveniles; NGO’s should be encouraged to provide services like training, teaching and counseling, media should be proactive and participate in the system, extension of schemes for street children, Special Homes etc. There after Justice Kabir invited views from participants.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice P.V. Reddi, Chairperson, Law Commission of India, explained the measures and steps that may be taken for the rehabilitation and social reintegration of the Juvenile in conflict with law. He mentioned about the requirement of proper institutions and persons. He said one should look at ground realities like pending proceedings, number of Special Homes, number of JWO’s, JJB’s and frequency of periodical review meetings etc. According to him, LAF has taken a good positive step in introducing a monitoring system, and also suggested that proper coordination and dedicated steps should be taken both in long range planning and immediate planning.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan B. Lokur, Acting Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi, briefly explained about steps to be taken for proper monitoring. The first step ‘Awareness’ among all the stake holders about the Juvenile Justice System, second ‘Knowledge of Rights’ where every person involved in this system should have the knowledge of Child Rights, third ‘Rehabilitation’ for the children in conflict with law and also for the children in need of care and protection, fourth ‘Training’, every stake holder should be given proper training for handling the Juveniles which is very important, and finally ‘Legal Aid System’ should be well established for the Juveniles.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice I.A. Ansari, Judge Gauhati High Court, explained the Monitoring system in Assam and said that the situation of Juvenile Justice System is not up to the mark in Assam and other North Eastern States of India. He said that Assam is in need of such system and LAF has selected Assam, as one of the two piloted States which is positive step for the development of the Juvenile Justice System in the state.

Mr. P.I. Jose, Secretary, LAF explained the proposed monitoring mechanism. It contained three stages namely, use of formats by the SJPU and JJB, forms of reporting to higher authorities at regular intervals and periodical meetings among the stake holders.

Mr.Amod Kanth, Chairperson Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, suggested improvements in the draft forms. He also stated that it may not be correct to involve any divisional level meetings headed by Divisional Commissioners as suggested.

Mr. Sudhir Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (SJPU), suggested that periodical reporting should not be three months as it is too long time to monitor the system and said it should be closer. He also suggested that Superintendent of Police should be more involved than other Districts heads of various departments.

Mr.M.K Gupta, DIG Assam informed every one that in Child Welfare has been appointed in most of the Police Stations, however requisite training needs to be imparted to them for which more resource persons are required. Mr. Gupta stated that common and integrated Forms may be adopted to maintain uniformity; he assured that the necessary steps of monitoring could be implemented in Assam. He expressed happiness as Assam has been chosen one of the piloted States.

Ms. Illa Rawat, Additional District Judge Delhi, Former Principal Magistrate of JJB, Delhi also suggested that in the draft apprehension memo reason for apprehension of Juvenile should also be included as it is one of the basic right of an apprehended person to know the reason of apprehension. A general discussion was followed after and every participant shared and suggested their views.

Ms. Sandhya Bajaj, Former Member NCPCR Delhi, explained the ground realities of the system and stressed about making combined efforts by all stakeholders in improving the system, including Observation Homes. She said stakeholders like Police, JJB etc. should be provided with certain incentives and promotions, for enhancing the improvement in the system.

Mr. Jose Bergua, Chief Child Protection, Unicef, emphasized that all stake holders must act in co-ordination with each other to give energy to the Juvenile Justice System. He also expressed hope that LAF would be able to complete the project with its expertise on the subject.

Ms. Minna Kabir, Child Rights Activist, stressed that there is an urgent need to monitor the working of Juvenile Justice System as most of the beneficial provisions contained in the act are yet to be implemented on ground and there is little awareness about these provisions.

Dr. Ashok Kumar, Joint Director NIPCCD, assured all cooperation and support the project and agreed on principle that the forms and formats can be computerized so that reports can be generated at the State and National level for uniformity.

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar, Hon’ble Ms. Justice Reva Khetrapal, Judges High Court of Delhi expressed their views. Participants agreed to send their suggestions to LAF by email. The discussion lasted for about two and half hours and was friendly.