Vol. 1, No. 2 (Sept.- Nov. 2016) Quarterly Newsletter...
Transcript of Vol. 1, No. 2 (Sept.- Nov. 2016) Quarterly Newsletter...
Vol.1,No.2
(Sept.-Nov.2016)
"Let us sacri�ice our today so that ourchildrencanhaveabettertomorrow." -Dr.APJAbdulKalam
QuarterlyNewsletter
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow is one of
the premier national law schools in the country. From its inception it has
stood with its unwavering commitment to its purpose of fostering
excellence in the eld of law. The University lays special emphasis on
research based legal and justice education and has left no stone unturned
in improving the overall quality of legal education and advocacy. In
discharge of its social responsibility, the University aims at
strengthening child protection system and enforcing child protection
laws and implementation of schemes. The University has proudly
associated itself with UNICEF and Home Department/Police
Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) , to create protective
environment for children and women. This newsletter is an outcome of
the joint project between RMLNLU and UNICEF. The Newsletter
presents updates of all child rights related initiatives in the State of Uttar
Pradesh.
EditorialNote
It givesme immense pleasure to place the secondissueofthenewsletteronChildProtectioninUttarPradeshinthehandsofthereaders.Attheoutset,Iwould like to thank Prof. (Dr.) Gurdip Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Dr. RMLNLU, for having taken specialinterest on child rights and for his continuoussupportprovidedtous.
TheNewsletteristheresultofcollaborationbetweentheUniversityandUNICEF,instrengtheningthechildprotectionsysteminUttarPradesh.Thegovernmentof Uttar Pradesh has taken a lot of initiatives inmakingUttarPradeshabetterplaceforchildrenandRMLNLU is a proud partner in several suchinitiatives.IwouldalsoliketoexpressmygratitudetowardsProf.B.B. Pande forhis valuable guidanceandsupervisiongiventousinmakingacontributioninthe�ieldofchildrights.Iappreciatethesincerityand hard work shown by UNICEF ProjectCoordinators,Associateandmystudents,whohavebeeninstrumentalinbringingoutthisnewsletter.
- Dr.K.A.Pandey, AssociateProfessor&ProjectDirector
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National LawUniversity,Lucknow
with�inancialsupportfrom
UNICEF
Message from Vice-Chancellor
Prof. (Dr.) Gurdip SinghVice- Chancellor, RMLNLU
I feel glad that Centre for Criminal Justice Administration, Dr. RMLNLU is bringing out the second issue of the newsletter. The second newsletter not only covers various child rights advocacy initiatives being undertaken by the University in association with Govt. of U.P. and UNICEF, but also initiatives of other stakeholders. This issue is being dedicated to our former President, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
I must congratulate the faculty concerned, UNICEF Project Coordinators and the students involved in bringing out this newsletter. The University is committed to create protective environment for children. I offer my best wishes to all the members of University family and others associated with it, who are working incessantly to achieve this objective.
ChildProtectioninUttarPradesh
Section 107 of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of
Children) Act, 2015 provides that a Special Juvenile Police
Unit (SJPU) has to be constituted in every police district of
India. The core function of the SJPU is two pronged. Besides
being guardians of the legal rights of children in conflict with
the law, the SJPU has an inherent duty to ensure that the
protections under national and international human rights law,
afforded to children who are found to be in need of care and
protection (as defined in JJ Act 2015), are fully respected and
their wellbeing safeguarded at all times. However, in practice
the situation remains contrary. Currently, most of the time, the
first contact that children or juveniles have with the legal
system is with a police officer and most of the time the
experience is unpleasant since the policeman is not trained or
sensitized to handle them. Since the police officer has
relatively wide discretionary powers, he can wield a great
influence on the child's future behaviour and they can also
create an indelible impression on the child and society.
In backdrop of this situation, the Centre for Criminal
Justice Administration, RMLNLU in support of UNICEF and
Home Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh took on task
of establishing 10 model child friendly Special Juvenile Police
Unit in the identified 10 districts of Uttar Pradesh, with a view
to establish a more humane, integrated and child rights
respecting police practices in responding to and dealing with
children in the State of Uttar Pradesh. Under this initiative,
child friendly rooms are being created in police station. The
said room is designed keeping in mind the needs, interests and
safety of children. This room is created to make the child feel at
home and comfortable in staying put for a while; a place where
a child feels secured and where one could while away time in
reading books or making drawings or playing with toys and
games. Children who are victims of exploitation/abuses can
file their complaint in a friendlier atmosphere, as well as the
Child Welfare Police Officers (CWPOs) can record the
statement of children in conflict with law in this room. The
room has following ingredients-
a. Child Rights wall, banners and notices for creating
awareness about child rights of both child in conflict
with law and child in need of care and protection.
b. Bi-lingual Child Rights Legislation Kit has been
prepared and has been made available in all SGPU,
for help of both the child and police.
c. Master SJPU Register are also provided in the SGPU
for the documentation & maintenance of records of
cases related to children.
d. First aid box
e. Resource directories
f. SJPU Meeting Minutes Record Register
g. Drawing Wall
h. Child friendly items
Currently, 6 Model SJPU have been established in 6 districts of
Uttar Pradesh- Varanasi, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Mirzapur,
Agra and Bareilly.
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Establishment of Child Friendly Special Juvenile Police Units
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University
(RMLNLU), Lucknow in collaboration with the UNICEF, had
organized a " Two day Consultation of Deans/HODs/ Faculties
on Child Protection Curriculum for LLB Programme" during
March 12-13, 2016. Based on the inputs provided therein,
RMLNLU organized a meeting of experts for " Mainstreaming
Child Rights in the B.A. LL.B. / LL.B. Curriculum of the
Universities in Uttar Pradesh (Development of Model
Curriculum)" during August 27-28, 2016.
The group of experts comprised of: Dr. P.M. Nair, IPS (Retd.)
& Chair Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Dr. A.K.
Tiwari, Associate Professor, RMLNLU; Ms. Shachi Singh,
General Secretary, Ehsaas; Mr. Govind Beniwal, Ex-Member,
State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (Rajasthan);
Dr. S.R. Subramanian, Assistant Professor, Rajiv Gandhi
School of IP Law, IIT Kharagpur; Dr. K.A. Pandey, Associate
Professor, RMLNLU & Project Director; Dr. R.K. Yadav,
Assistant Professor, RMLNLU. Other participants included
representatives from UNICEF, faculty members from
RMLNLU, and student representatives from RMLNLU. The
outcomes of the meeting can be divided into three following
heads: (i) Identification of Subjects in LL.B. Program for
Infusion of Child Protection Laws; (ii) Infusion of Child
Protection Laws in the Identified Subjects; (iii) Teaching
Methodology to be adopted in the respective subjects; and (iv)
Curriculum Development of Diploma Course on Child
Protection Laws.
The following subjects were identified for infusion of
child protection laws: Constitutional Law, Law of Torts, Moot
Court & Clinical Legal Education, Criminal Law, Criminal
Procedure, Labour Law, Human Rights Law, Cyber Law, and
Psychology.
Strengthening the assertion that no matter how good a
curriculum is developed, it will be only be effective only when
accompanied by appropriate teaching methodology, the
following techniques/methods were suggested to be included
in model child curriculum: (i) Student visits to Child Care
Institutions; (ii) Case studies; (iii) Films/Documentaries
followed by discussions (Audio-visual method); (iv)
Discussions with JJBs, CWCs and experts; (v) Field Projects;
(vi) Workshops; (vii) Moot courts; and (viii)Volunteering can
be encouraged.
Focusing on the lack of properly trained personals,
the group of experts endorsed the idea of a diploma course on
child protection laws to be launched by Dr. RMLNLU.
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Mainstreaming Child Rights in the B.A. LL.B. / LL.B. Curriculum of the Universities in
Uttar Pradesh (Development of Model Curriculum), August 27-28, 2016
Training Programmes for Public Prosecutors on Child Protection Laws
After the success of the two-day pilot training programme jointly organized by Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU), Lucknow, Home Department, Government of U.P., UNICEF and Directorate of Prosecution, Government of U.P. on 30-31st July, 2016 for 20 Public Prosecutors of various districts of Uttar Pradesh, two more such programmes were jointly organized, with an aim to train and sensitize public prosecutors in matters of child protection under various laws including the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. The highlights of the Training Programme organized on September 17-18, 2016 can be presented as follows:
Imbibing Fundamental Principles of Juvenile Justice:
The session was chaired by Mr. Shahbaz Khan Sherwani,
(Programme Coordinator, Child Protection, HAQ:
Centre for Child Rights). He started this session with an
objective questionnaire and group activity, which was
followed by a discussion with the participants regarding
"child in need of care and protection" and "child in
conflict with the law", with whom they deal in their
profession on the daily basis. He further discussed about
the underlying principles and key provisions of the
Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
Role of Public Prosecutors under Juvenile Justice Act, 2015:
The session was chaired by Mr. S. K. Khare (Joint Director,
Directorate of Prosecution, U.P.). He decoded the role of
public prosecutors in brief, and thereafter asserted that the
existence of Juvenile Justice Board is for the care and
protection of the children, not for punishing them. With the
help of the discussion in this session, it was concluded that
immaturity of the child is one common rationale for treating a
child differently from an adult in matters of criminal liability
and there should be 'child friendly atmosphere' during the
conduct of inquiry by the Juvenile Justice Board.
Issues in Age Determination, Bail & Final Order, and Practice
of Transfer of Cases: The session was chaired by Mr. Chandra
Suman (Advocate, Delhi High Court). He at length discussed
the law and judgments on age determination.
Victim Compensation and Maharani Laxmi Bai Victim
Compensation Scheme: The session was chaired by Mr.
Sarvesh Kumar Pandey (DPO, Barabanki). He further
explained about the compensation given to the
women victims under U.P. Rani Laxmi Bai Mahila Samman
Kosh. He also told about the various schemes like widow
pension scheme, Kisan Pension Yojna, Awaas Vikas Yojna.
Investigation of Offence Committed by Children- Issues and
Concerns: The session was chaired by Mr. Vipin
Mishra (IPS) and Mr. S.S. Upadhyaya (Legal Advisor to
Hon'ble Governor, Uttar Pradesh). In this session, an
American documentary titled 'Prison Kids: A Crime Against
Children', which is an investigative documentary about the
juvenile justice system in America, was shown to the
participants. Thereafter, he told about the working of SJPUs
recently established in Banaras, Agra and Meerut.
Open session on 'Overcoming Challenges of Law and
Procedure in Child Protection': The session was chaired by Mr.
S.S. Upadhyaya. In this session, problems
regarding JJB, practical problems faced by practitioners were
discussed by Mr. Upadhyaya. At last, he
discussed powers and functions of public prosecutors.
On the similar lines, another Training Programme for Public
Prosecutors on Child Protection Laws was organized
during September 24-25, 2016.
Mrs. Juhie Singh (Chairman, Uttar Pradesh State Commission
for Protection of Child Rights) graced the occasion as Chief
Guest of the valedictory session.
Page | 4
The Convention on the Civil Aspects of International
Child Abduction, 1980 (commonly known as the Hague
Convention) is a multilateral treaty whereby the
contracting states will have to cooperate with each
other in expeditiously sending back the runaway parent
and the child to the country of the child's 'habitual
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Training Programme of DGCs on Women & Child Protection Laws (Oct. 15-16, 2016)
Combating Human Trafficking in Uttar Pradesh
International Child Abduction Bill, 2016
In an innovative and unique attempt by the Home
Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh from the
support of UNICEF, a two-day pilot Training Programme
was conducted at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law
University to train and sensitize the District Government
Counsels (DGCs) on laws and issues related to women
and children. The training programme was successfully
conducted on October 15-16, 2016 with 25 DGCs for 25
districts of Uttar Pradesh. The training was conceptualized
with an intent to enhance the knowledge of the participants
about laws and issues related to women and children; sensitize
them about the sexual offences being committed against
children and consequent trauma faced by them; develop an
understanding of their role in implementation of the Act;
enable them to understand and contextualize the rights of
women and children; orient them about different support and
rehabilitation services available for victims of sexual offence;
and discuss about the difficulties/problems encountered in the
implementation of the Act and skills required in solving the
problems. A detailed reading material developed by experts at
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow
was provided to all the participants during the training
programme.
Draft Action Plan released by UPSCPCR
A draft Action Plan to combat Human Trafficking was
released by Uttar Pradesh State Commission for
Protection of Child Rights (UPSCPCR) in association
with Human Liberty Network on 25th October, 2016. A
working group was also constituted.
The plan included preventive measures like collecting and disseminating information to self-help groups, community, etc. through state agencies and NGOs. Sensitization and empowerment of various stakeholders were also a part of the plan. The draft recommended that a gender sensitive and rights based victim centric protocol or code of conduct should be followed during raids apart from ensuring post-rescue care and protection for the survivors.
Initiatives taken by Home Dept., Government of U.P.
The details of all initiatives regarding protection of women and children undertaken by the Home D e p a r t m e n t , G o v e r n m e n t o f U . P. w i t h t h e help of multiple stakeholders are available at http://uphome.gov.in/whats-new.htm.
residence'. The object and purpose of the convention is:
a) to secure the prompt return of children wrongfully removed
to or retained in any Contracting State; and
b) to ensure that rights of custody and of access under the law
of one Contracting State are effectively respected in other
Contracting States.
This convention entered into force on December 1,
1983, and has been adopted by 95 nations. However, India is
not a signatory to this instrument. The discourse got a new
lease of life when the 18th Law Commission of India, in its
218th Report strongly recommended the government to sign
and accede the Convention. The Law commission in its report
said that Indian courts have not followed a uniform approach
pertaining to the custody and the reason is the absence of
exhaustive and uniform laws.
On 22nd June 2016, the Ministry of Women and Child
Development came up with a draft of "The Civil Aspects of
International Child Abduction Bill, 2016". The bill seeks to lay
out a stage for India to adopt the convention. The salient and
salutary features of this Bill are as follows:
— The Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction Bill,
2016, applies to children under 16 who have been
"wrongfully removed to or retained in other State (country)
which is not his/her habitual residence".
— It mandates the formation of a central authority, with the
powers of a civil court, with which complaints can be
lodged in lieu of a court and which can decide all such
cases.
— The Bill does not provide as to which parent should have
custody. It will return the child if he has been found to be
wrongfully brought and retained in India. Then legal
proceedings in that country will continue.
— The Bill does not provide penal provisions against the
parent found to have abducted the child. But the errant
parent must bear the expenses incurred by the central
authority to locate the child, the legal costs of the litigating
parent, and the expenditures in returning the child.
— It empowers the Court to deny custody on certain grounds. It
allows the Courts in India to recognize decisions of State of
the 'habitual residence' of the child. It also states that the
Indian Court that wants to disregard the interim/final order
of the foreign court must record reasons for the same.
— The grounds for denying custody by the court are: Firstly,
the person was not actually exercising the custody rights at
the time of removal or retention, or had consented to or
subsequently acquiesced in the removal or retention. Lastly,
there is a grave risk that his or her return would expose the
child to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place
the child in an intolerable situation.
The Draft Bill has further been fine tuned by the 21st Law
Commission of India in its latest 263rd Report on 'The
Protection of Children (Inter-Country Removal and Retention)
Bill, 2016. The Law Commission after examining the issues
involved, has proposed a revision to some provisions. Some of
the notable changes are:
— While the WCD Ministry's Bill makes an exception only in
cases where the child has been taken away with consent or
where returning the child poses some kind of grave risk to
him or her, the Law Commission only makes an exception
in cases where the parent, involved in the alleged wrongful
removal or retention, did so in an attempt to escape from any
act of domestic violence. "The woman must not be put in a
situation where she has to make the impossible choice
between her children and putting up with abusive
relationship in a foreign country," it notes.
— Also, the Commission has recommended a maximum jail
term of 1 year for the wrongful removal and retention of
child and a maximum jail term of 3 months for willful
misrepresentation or concealment of facts related to
location or information of the child.
However, the Union WCD Ministry is still undecided
as to whether India should accede to the Hague Convention.
"In the January of 2015, an hour after noon, 30,000
villagers assembled in a large ground in the western-
Indian lands of Loni in Maharashtra. Loni is about 150
kilometres north of Pune. The day was quite sunny and
Page | 6
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: From Missile Man to Smile Man
windless, and the huge crowd was getting increasingly
uncomfortable in the stifling heat. They had gathered there to
see the Missile Man of India. Dr. Kalam was visiting the area
on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Pravaranagar
Rural Education Society, which had been established by
Padmashri Dr. Vithalrao Vikhe Patil, a renowned leader known
for bringing in several agricultural reforms and the founder of
the first major cooperative sugar factory in India.
The movement started had gone on establish medical
and engineering colleges, hospitals, schools, training centres,
banks and many other institutions. It was now being managed
by his grandson, Dr. Ashok Patil, who was a friend of Dr.
Kalam's. Behind the makeshift stage, there were about fifty
young performers getting ready, putting on make-up and
listening to final instructions from their teachers. Three
performances were planned for the event, all to be done by the
children of that area. The first two were traditional dances,
while the last one was fusion dance on a patriotic song that
involved a much larger troupe.
We reached the function late because our flight was
delayed and then we had to attend a meeting with some local
people. The pilots had warned us beforehand that we had to
land in Mumbai by 4:30 p.m. But after this event there was
another lunch that had to be attended. So yet again we were in a
time-crunch.
When Dr. Kalam reached the dais, we found that we
hardly had sixty minutes with us. The function started off with
a long but heart-warming welcome note by Dr. Ashok Patil,
after which there was a small award ceremony. And then the
performers took the stage.
Concerned about the time, we requested Dr. Patil to
get Dr. Kalam's address started as soon as possible because he
had to go through all his points. Dr. Patil was a man of
wonderful manners, and he took this request so seriously that
he cancelled the last performance. The organizers decided that
the performance would be conducted only after Dr. Kalam had
departed for lunch.
It was a drastic step, but it saved us some ten minutes.
After the second performance, when Dr. Kalam began walking
towards the podium, I went up to him to pin the collar mic on
him and told him that the third performance had been cancelled
to save time, so he need not worry about keeping his speech
short.
He looked at me and asked, 'And what about the
performers?' I told him that they would perform after he had
left. He replied, 'Ah! Do you think that will work?' He was
right. I knew that once he left, the majority of the crowd would
leave as well. By the time Dr. Kalam stepped away from the
podium amidst a roaring applause from 30,000 people, the
cancelled performance had been forgotten by all but one
person. We finished the event and quickly went to the nearby
office building where a wonderful vegetarian lunch had been
served for Dr. Kalam and the others. His favourite items-
bhindi, onion ring pakoras and yogurt- had been served.
We were in the middle of a conversation at the lunch
table when Dr. Kalam suddenly turned to Dr. Ashok Patil and
said, 'I have a request. Let us hasten our lunch and save some
time. Then can you please ask the children from the third
performance to come here? They must be feeling sad, I am
sure. I want to meet them and console them.' About ten people
were present at the lunch and everyone paused for a moment,
awed by Dr. Kalam's sensitivity.
In five minutes about fifteen to twenty young children,
in full make-up and colourful constumes, gathered outside the
room. Dr. Kalam was right. They were quite disappointed and
the younger ones were crying- the mascara that the little girls
had put in their eyes had been washed away by their tears. As
soon as they saw Dr. Kalam coming towards them, some of
them got very emotional and started crying all over again.
These little children had practiced for months in front of his
portrait to motivate themselves. Now their disappointment
changed to utter joy. Dr. Kalam cut down on his lunch to ensure
that he could spend more than five minutes he had promised
with them. He asked the children their names and posed for
many photographs with them. Finally as he was leaving Dr.
Ashok Patil remarked, 'These children got luckier by not
performing today because they got to spend all that time with
you directly.' The children laughed heartily. We were all
touched by the compassion of the great Missile Man or, should
I say, the 'Smile Man'?"
- An excerpt from "What Can I Give? Life
Lessons from My Teacher, A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam" by Srijan Pal Singh (Penguin
Books, 2016)
Page | 7
15thOctober,marksthebirthanniversaryofourformerPresident,BharatRatnaDr.A.P.J.AbdulKalam.Therefore,wearededicating the second issueof 'ChildRightsinUttarPradesh'toDr.Kalam.The'People'sPresident',wasamentorandguidetomillionsofchildrenofourcountryandoftheentireworld.Hisbeliefinpotentialofchildrenasfutureleaderswassostrongthatduringhisinteractionswithyoungsters,Dr.Kalamnotonlyobligedandgavethemhisprecioustimeandmagni�icentspeechesbut,healsolistenedtotheirideasintently.
Hon'blePresidentofIndia,ShriPranabMukerjeehasobserved:
"NoPresidentwaseverlovedsomuch.NehruhasearnedtheloveandaffectionofchildrenandafterthatwefoundKalam.Sometimeswhenhewaswithchildren,itappearedtomethatheisNehruinanotherform.Hewasalwaysinspiringnewideas,newthoughts."
(15October1931-27July2015)
EditorialTeamDr.K.A.Pandey,AssociateProfessor&ProjectDirector;Editor-in-ChiefMs.SmritiShukla,ProjectCoordinator;EditorMs.PriyaKrishnamurthi,ProjectCoordinator;EditorMr.Devendra,ProjectAssociate;EditorMr.AnuragBhaskar,5thYearStudent,B.A.LL.B.(Hons.),RMLNLU;AssistantEditorMr.BhupendraSinghBisht,5thYearStudent,B.A.LL.B.(Hons.),RMLNLU;AssistantEditorMr.PranjalBhardwaj,4thYearStudent,B.A.LL.B.(Hons.),RMLNLU;AssistantEditorMs.SurbhiKarwa,4thYearStudent,B.A.LL.B.(Hons.),RMLNLU;AssistantEditor
PublishedByCentreforCriminalJusticeAdministration,Dr.RamManoharLohiyaNationalLawUniversity,Lucknow
FrontpagePhotographSource:AjayVerma,Reuters