Jammu Tawi, Nov 13: Two days consultation on Implementation of
POCSO Act, 2012 organized by Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of
J&K and Ladakh in collaboration with the department of Social Welfare UTs
of J&K and Ladakh and supported by UNICEF India concluded today at
Police Auditorium Jammu.
The brain storming deliberations of day one had already set the tone
and tenor of the second day consultations. Today, fifth session of the
conference, on a very important topic relating to mental health and psycho-
social support to the survivors and their families was chaired by Justice
Sindhu Sharma, Chairperson, J&K Judicial Academy in which Saurabh
Sashi Ashok, NIMHANS Bangalore was the resource person. While
addressing the participants through virtual mode from Bangalore he shared
his experiences with the child victims of intellectual disability. Justice
Sindhu Sharma, in her deliberations emphasised on providing psycho-
social support not only to the victims but also to their families particularly
parents.
In the last technical session the topic for discussion was the “Role of
the Police in the investigation of POCSO cases and intersection of POCSO
and Juvenile Justice Act”. This session was presided over by Justice
Rajnesh Oswal, Member, Juvenile Justice Committee. Anant Kumar
Asthana, a prominent Child Rights Lawyer from New Delhi was the
resource person. While speaking on the occasion, the resource person
informed the delegates that recently the POCSO Act of India has been
rated as one of the best legislations in comparison to similar legislations
enacted by some developed countries like UK and Sweden. He also
stressed upon the grant of compensation to the child victims under the
POCSO Act, which is the sole discretion of the Judge dealing with the
POCSO cases. Justice Rajnesh Oswal, highlighted the grey areas in the
legislation and stressed upon the need for having separate agency and
institution to deal with the POCSO related crimes. The queries raised by
the delegates were responded satisfactorily by the resource persons as
well as the Chairpersons.
The closing session was also attended by Justice Tashi Rabstan,
Chairperson, Juvenile Justice Committee, who impressed upon the
participating delegates to make best use of the techniques gained during
the conference in their day to day working vis-à-vis the cases relating to
POCSO Act. Justice Rajnesh Oswal, Justice Rahul Bharti and Justice
Rajesh Sekhri also remained present during the course of deliberations of
the day.
The programme concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Amit
Kumar Gupta, Member Secretary, Juvenile Justice Committee. The
proceedings of the programme were conducted by Swati Gupta, Senior
Civil Judge.
