Justice S Ravindra Bhat Inaugurates Regional Colloquium of Southern States Organised By Kerala HC On Juvenile Justice Act, Pocso Act And Drug Abuse Among Children

A Regional Colloquium on Juvenile Justice Act,2015, PoCSO Act and Drug Abuse among Children organized by the High Court of Kerala is being held at Kochi Marriot Hotel, Ernakulam on 25th and 26th February. The Colloquium is being conducted to sensitise various stake holders of the justice delivery system handling cases involving children under different acts at various levels.

The Colloquium was inaugurated by Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Judge, Supreme Court on Saturday. Justice Bhat is also the Chairperson of the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Supreme Court. The function was presided over by the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court, Justice S Manikumar.

The Colloquium is being attended by the judges of the Madras High Court, High Court of Karnataka, High Court of Andhra Pradesh and High Court of Telengana as well. Various judicial officers from all the southern states and heads of several departments that have a stake in the juvenile justice system are delegates to the Colloquium.

Justice Alexander Thomas, Chairman of the Committe Constituted To Regulate And Monitor the Progress of Trials Under the POCSO Act welcomed the guests. 

In his inaugural address, Justice S. Ravindra Bhat, shed light on the issue of increasing drug abuse among the children. He also spoke about the need for judges to exercise discretion in cases involving consensual relationships. He also stressed on the need to apply special provisions in various enactments keeping in mind the vulnerability of children. In his address, Chief Justice Manikumar spoke of the need for sensitising different stakeholders of the juvenile justice delivery system and the importance for convergence of these stakeholders for better implementation of laws.

The first session was conducted by Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, Former Judge High Court of Bombay and Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Executive Director, Society for Promotion of Youth & Masses, Delhi. It focused adhering to a rights-based approach when it comes to children and the law while also balancing the rehabilitative goal of the Juvenile Justice Act,2015. The session also dealt with issue of drug abuse among the children and measures to curb it.

The second session focussed on furthering a victim-centric justice delivery system under PoCSO, Act. Smt.Kushi Kushappa, Counsellor, Enfold Proactive Health Trust, Bengaluru who conducted the session, dealt with the need to create a child friendly atmosphere in courts dealing with PoCSO cases. She also stressed on proper communication between the investigating agency and the family of the victim via modern technological methods. She also spoke on ensuring proper support for victims and on avoiding unnecessary medical examination of the victims in cases where there is no aggravated sexual assault and so on.

Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan and Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas will address the conference tomorrow.

Justice C T Ravikumar, Judge, Supreme Court, will be present for the valedictory session on 26th February at 12 noon, through virtual mode.