Jammu, December 11 – Deliberations continued for the 2ndday on working of Juvenile Justice System in the State of Jammu and Kashmir during the Workshop organized by the High Court Committee on Juvenile Justice and J&K State Judicial Academy in collaboration with UNICEF.
Different provisions of the J&K Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2013 and Rules, 2014 were discussed. The participants, Chief Judicial Magistrates, senior Judicial Officers and Police Officers present on the occasion shared their rich experiences and difficulties during the Conference in dealing with the children in conflict with law.
The discussions were held regarding the role of Principal Magistrates of Juvenile Justice Boards in the process of rehabilitation and social re-integration of children. The workshop discussed the challenges and the way forward on four different aspects i.e. social investigation reports and individual care plans, rehabilitation of children in conflict with law in homes, role of social welfare and overall coordination and Role of Police, Probation Officers, Restoration and after care.
Various suggestions were put forward by the participants for the effective implementation of the Juvenile Justice Act and the Rules which were taken note by Mr. Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar, Chairman, Mr. Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey, Member, Committee on Juvenile Justice and Mr. Jehangir Iqbal Ganie, Advocate General, J&K State who were present on the session.
Representatives of break out groups, Mr. Parvez Iqbal, Addl. Mobile Magistrate (Traffic) Jammu, Mr. Ritesh Dubey, CJM, Udhampur, Mr. Prem Sagar, Munsiff, Ukhral and Mr. Kamlesh Pandita, CJM, Reasi and Mr. Mubashir Latifi, SSP Crime made presentations on challenges and way forward in the concluding sessions.
In the concluding remarks, Mr. Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar and Mr. Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey expressed the hope that the deliberations in the workshop will benefit the Judicial Officers and sharpen their judicial skills. The ultimate beneficiaries will be the children in conflict with law and the children in need of care and protection. Justice Attar and Justice Magrey expressed gratitude to the Resource persons from UNICEF for their rich and varied experience on juvenile justice system. All the participants and the dignitaries praise the efforts of State Judicial Academy for organizing the workshop after extensive ground work. The module of the workshop was highly appreciated.
Justice Attar was of the view that the term ‘Juvenile in Conflict with law’ in the Act has to be substituted by more children friendly expression as the child is never in conflict with law due to his fragility and innocence.
Advocate General, Mr. Ganie assured the Hon’ble Judges and the participants that he will make a sincere endeavour to remove the hardships in the way of implementation of Juvenile Justice Act and Rules.
The workshop concluded with vote of thanks by Director, J&K State Judicial Academy, Mr. Abdul Rashid Malik. He appreciated the role of Judicial Officers, participants and Resource persons in making the workshop lively, creative and productive and expressed the hope that the benefits of the workshop will reach out to the children in conflict with law.