Jammu, Dec 31: The experts at a workshop organized by J&K Judicial Academy on Saturday stressed that the courts have a special responsibility to deal with child abuse cases with an extra cautious approach to ensure proper justice and rehabilitation of such children. They said the stakeholders need to ensure that children in conflict with the law are treated in a manner substantially different than adults at all stages of the proceedings.
The workshop organized under the patronage of Justice Tashi Rabstan, Chief Justice (A), High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, and Patron-in-Chief, J&K Judicial Academy was on “Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection) Act, 2015 with special reference to the Constitutional vision of Justice and Concept of Social Justice, Child Abuse-Prevention, Protection and Redress” for Principal Magistrate/JJBs and Officers from Social Welfare Department Jammu Province at J&K Judicial Academy, Jammu.
Shahzad Azeem, Director, J&K Judicial Academy presented the welcome address and gave an overview of the programme. “Today’s deliberations are channelled on the discourse of a very vital aspect of the justice delivery system. (We hope) the training programme will go a long way in motivating the participants to rejuvenate their efforts to work in missionary spirit towards the fulfilment of Constitutional Vision of Social Justice, Rehabilitation, Reintegration, Child Abuse-Prevention and Redressal,” he said.
In the first technical session, Pawan Dev Kotwal, District & Sessions Judge (President, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Jammu) stressed that the approach of the officers of the social welfare department and the judicial system must be aimed at addressing the vulnerabilities of the children and ensuring their rehabilitation.
In the second technical session, Pawan Dev Kotwal gave in-depth knowledge regarding Child Protection, Juvenile Justice and Mission Vatsalya (Integrated Child Protection Scheme) in J&K, Juvenile Justice Act Philosophy, Principles, Mandates, Juvenile Justice Boards (communication, bail, case processing, etc).
Later, an interactive session was held during which the participants deliberated and discussed the various aspects of the subject topic and raised queries which were satisfactorily settled by the resource persons.
