Shillong, Aug 6: A one-day state level consultation on children in conflict with law, prevention, fair-trial and rehabilitation was organised the Auditorium High Court of Meghalaya, on Saturday.
The event was organised by the Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of Meghalaya in collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare, and Department of Health and Family Welfare and it was inaugurated by Chief Justice, High Court of Meghalaya, Justice Sanjib Banerjee in the presence of other judges, lawyers and dignitaries from the government of Meghalaya.
IAS, Commissioner and Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Government of Meghalaya, Sampath Kumar spoke on safe motherhood, importance of access to healthcare for mothers and children, importance of education and on this basis, the government launched the early childhood development mission to look after the all-around growth of children.
Justice Hamarsan Singh Thangkhiew informed that the state-level consultation meet is held before the national consultant meet in order to put forth recommendations and suggestions.
He spoke on the importance in getting all the stakeholders involved in dealing with children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection. “India’s approach to dealing with children in conflict with law is grounded in the Principles of Prevention, Fair Trial and Rehabilitation” Dropouts, teenage pregnancy, destitution and lack of education, contribute to children in conflict with law. He stressed on the importance of social welfare programmes, rehabilitation and skill development for the rehabilitation and reintegration of children.
Justice Sanjib Banerjee focussed on equality especially gender equality, the need to protect the state’s fragile environment and ecosystem and to provide opportunities for children.
He stressed about the genesis of the Juvenile Justice System, the concept of which is not old. In India, the Juvenile Justice was born in 1860 where a juvenile caught with petty offences was given vocational training. The 1980s was a remarkable decade for the Judiciary he said, as the Public Interest Litigation was born and Judgement which made provision for juveniles mandatory. The Juvenile Justice Act was born in 1986 and amended in 2000-2002 and the whole objective of Juvenile Justice is not only to correct but to reform.
The technical sessions followed after the Inaugural programme taken by prominent resource persons covered on topics like children in conflict with law: Prevention and Early Intervention, Diversion, alternatives to non-custodial measures, rehabilitation and reintegration, Right to a Fair Trial: Focus on Child Friendly Procedures and Minimum of age of criminal responsibility and age of criminal majority (Preliminary Assessment).
