National webinar focuses on poor justice delivery system

KOKRAJHAR: The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Kokrajhar, in association with IQAC of Kokrajhar Law College under the leadership of secretary, DLSA and Principal i/c, Kokrajhar Law College, Preeta Brahma, successfully organized a three-day national webinar on the topic 'Rights of Women and Children: Issues and Challenges' from August 11 to August 13 with Prof. (Dr.) Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice-Chancellor, NLU, Odisha, as the chief guest. The other notable guests during the inaugural session were Rita Kar, District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman DLSA, Kokrajhar, and Prof. (Dr.) Subhram Rajkhowa, Head of the Department of Law, Gauhati University.

Prof. Rao spoke about 'Rule of Law, Juvenile Justice and Human Rights (in context of COVID-19 pandemic)' tracing about the development of laws of the nation and international treaties for juveniles justice post-independence till 2020, emphasizing about the overall development of children as they have right to education without any discrimination under RTE, 2009 and several other laws provide for care and protection to bring back their childhood in order to rehabilitate them for a better future. He said the Indian Judiciary had played a constructive role in the development of child rights jurisprudence in India along with international principles for introducing child-friendly justice system in India. He looked into the laws of 2015 Juvenile Law which categorizes between the heinous crime committed by juvenile below and above 16 years to 18 years and thereby introduction of transfer system from Juvenile Justice Board to children court.

The other speaker guests of the webinar were Dr. Rajulben L. Desai, office of member, National Commission for Women, who had explained the provisions of POCSO Act, 2012 and mentioned about the dream project called 'Sakhi One Stop Centre' established in every district, led under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Smriti Irani. She said that Sakhi was a one-roof help centre that provided five facilities like temporary residence, free medical help, free legal aid, psycho- social counselling and police facilities for needy women.

On subsequent days, Prof. (Dr.) Sarasu Esther Thomas, Registrar, National Law School of India University, deliberated extensively on women trafficking that also included women involved in sex work and being commercially exploited by not getting a decent/minimum pay as sex work was ideally considered to be an indecent work in the society. She emphasized that sex workers should not be penalized but the people violating their rights and making a business by forcing the women to get involved in sex work should be penalized like Swedish model.

On the other hand, Digamber Narzary, chairperson of NEDAN Foundation, Kokrajhar, gave a detailed graph on the cases of rape and children trafficking that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. He said NEDAN had received 10 child trafficking, 5 child rapes and 12 child marriage cases in Kokrajhar district during this lockdown. He said that the justice delivery system had failed miserably in the lockdown period. The Central Nirbhaya Fund, Victims Compensation Schemes and Livelihood Fund of the State had remained defunct during this lockdown and as a result, beneficiaries were not entitled to these funds. He urged the government to set up shelter home in every district with proper fund allocation.

On the third day, Dr. KVK Santhy, Associate Professor, NALSAR Law University, Hyderabad, spoke extensively on online sexual abuse and development of International, National and State Laws regarding protection of children from sexual abuse. Further, she said that people and civil society organizations must access www.Cybertipline.org to report the cases of online sexual abuse happening in the internet.

Pragna Parande, Member Juvenile Justice, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, spoke about child protection system in India. She projected a detailed flow chart in order to explain the procedural law with regard to CCL. She emphasized that begging was not a crime but forcing the children to beg in order to earn was a crime as per CNCP Law. She focused on Section 10 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 regarding apprehension of child alleged in conflict of law. This particular area needed more attention and awareness, she said. A child will always remain a child even after he/she commits a crime and he/she shall be entitled for care and protection throughout the trial, she added. The justice delivery system must ensure that their rights are protected and they are able to rehabilitate in society like all others. She added that proper fund allocation must be regularized for helping child advocacy and implementation of their legal rights.

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