Raipur-12-08-2023
“8th State Level Consultation on Children in Conflict with Law : Prevention, Restorative Justice and Diversion An Alternatives to detention” was orgainzed at High Court Auditorium in collaboration with Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority and Chhattisgarh State Judicial Academy. Addressing the function as the chief guest, Chief Justice Hon’ble Justice Shri Ramesh Sinha said that Children are the assets of the Nation, who will shape the future of the Country. He further stated that as responsible members of society, we need to do everything possible to protect and safe guard them. He said that deterring juveniles from delinquency is an essential part of crime prevention in the society and rehabilitation process can be concrete enough to prevent them from coming into conflict with law again. The role of the State is to act as the parent of the child who needs rehabilitation and its action should be in the best interest of the child. It is necessary to give moral and value based education to our children, right from the beginning of schooling. Even in Child Care Homes it is necessary that we engage our children in constructive activities to make them useful members of the society and responsible citizens of the Country.
He expressed hope and confidence that today’s Conference would be highly successful and go a long way in promoting and establishing a violence free society for children, where they would be free to enjoy their childhood.
Addressing the workshop, Honorable Mr. Justice Goutam Bhaduri, Executive Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Legal Services Authority, said that we need tireless efforts in the implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act. We should understand the mental state of children in conflict with law by taking our own example as we too were children
once. Children are gift of God. By giving them the right direction, they can be made conscientious people in the society. By the infinite grace of God we are so capable that we should work tirelessly for the progress of those children.
Addressing the workshop, Honorable Mr. Justice Sanjay K. Agrawal,Chairman of Chhattisgarh State Judicial Academy quoted the words of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru about children being the future of the Country. He further stated that today’s children are the future of India. Therefore, we should take important steps while working tirelessly for their future, which will give a new dimension to the society. Lastly, he quoted a few lines of poem on the children.
In the welcome address of the workshop, Honorable Mr. Justice Arvind Singh Chandel, Chairman, Juvenile Justice Cell of Chhattisgarh High Court, stated that children can come to violate the law for various reasons. Evidence shows that most of these children come from unprivileged backgrounds who are also children in need of care and protection. It calls for a focus on preventive, rehabilitative and restorative justice practices, and to ensure linkages between the justice and protection provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act, along with the special protections offered to children by international and national legal frameworks. In view of the recent changes that have taken place in the society in the last decade, children in India need two-folds protection. On the one hand they should be provided with the basic needs for their overall development to make them physically strong, mentally alert, academically brilliant by providing a family environment for proper upbringing of the child. The other side, needs prevention and reformation of the child who is called the child in conflict with law. It is necessary to implement the action on two aspects.On this occasion, the magazine “Navchetan” published by the Juvenile Justice Committee was released and uploaded on the website of the High Court.
In the inaugural session, Honorable Mr. Justice Parth Preetam Sahu of Chhattisgarh High Court, Honorable Mrs. Justice Rajni Dubey, Honorable Mr. Justice Naresh Kumar Chandravanshi, Honorable Mr. Justice Deepak Kumar Tiwari, Honorable Mr. Justice Sachin Singh
Rajput, Honorable Mr. Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey, Honorable Mr. Justice Radhakishan Agrawal and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal were specially present.
Along with this, High Court Registrar General Mr. Arvind Kumar Verma, Principal Secretary of Law Department Mr. Rajneesh Srivastava, High Court Registrar Vigilance Mr. Sudhir Kumar, Registrar (Judicial) Mr. K. Vinod Kujur, Registrar (Computerization) Mr. Shakti Singh Rajput, Registrar (S & A ) Mr. Jitendra Kumar Jain,Judicial Officer of other Registry and Additional Director of State Judicial Academy Mr. Harish Awasthi, Mrs. Garima Sharma and other judicial officers of the Academy, Member Secretary of State Legal Services Authority Mr. Anand Prakash Wariyal, Shri Davender Kumar, Secretary, Juvenile Justice Cell, Prashant Parashar, former Secretary, High Court Legal Services Committee were present.
After the inaugural session of the workshop, two technical sessions were organized, the first session was presided over by Honorable Mr. Justice Arvind Singh Chandel, Honorable Mr. Justice Deepak Kumar Tiwari, Honorable Mr. Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey, Additional Chief Secretary Ms. Renu Gonela and Under the Chairmanship of Mr. Poshan Chandrakar, Special Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development, and the second session was chaired by Honorable Mr. Justice Arvind Singh Chandel, Honorable Mr. Justice Deepak Kumar Tiwari, Honorable Mr. Justice Rakesh Mohan Pandey, Managing Director of Education Department Smt. Iffat Ara, Home Department’s Secretary, Dr. Baswaraju S. And organized under the chairmanship of Chhattisgarh UNICEF Chief Mr. Job Zakaria, in which presentation was given by all concerned departments present on various topics and problems related to juvenile justice and child related crimes and its solution.
The vote of thanks for the said workshop was done by Mr. Harish Awasthi, Additional Director of the State Judicial Academy and the program was conducted by Mrs. Garima Sharma,
Mr. Sonal Kumar Gupta from Child Rights Protection Commission, Mrs. Jyoti Guggal from Skill Development Department,
DIG Mrs. Milena Kurre from Police Department and Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh were specially present in the above workshop.
All District and Sessions Judges of Chhattisgarh State, Principal Magistrate of Juvenile Justice Board, Social Members, Chairpersons of Child Welfare Committee, District Program Officers of Women and Child Development Department, District Child Protection Officers, Law Officers, were present as participants in the above workshop. Counselors of Districts, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Women and Child Development Department, Home Department, Police Department, Public Health and Family Welfare, Medical Education, School Department, Skill Development Department, UNICEF representatives, Visitor of Child Communication Home, Special Juvenile Police unit officers, law students were present in large numbers.
It is pertinent to mention that the Child Welfare Committee of the Hon’ble Supreme Court has proposed to organize a workshop in the Month of September, 2023 in New Delhi on the subject of “Children in Conflict with Law : Prevention, Restorative Justice and Diversion An Alternatives to detention” “. In this context, the above workshop was organized by the Juvenile Justice Cell of Chhattisgarh High Court.
