Conferences & Seminars

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POCSO @10"Rehabilitation of POCSO Victims: Strategies, Challenges, and Way Forward,"

The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) in collaboration with CSJ: Counsel to Secure Justice organised a seminar to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The third seminar in the series of POCSO @ 10 focused on rehabilitation of children who are victims of sexual violence with particular focus on education, health, emotional, legal and financial support.

The seminar, titled "Rehabilitation of POCSO Victims: Strategies, Challenges, and Way Forward," was organised on May 6, 2023, from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Triveni Auditorium It was the third in a series of seminars to reflect, debate, and review the implementation of POCSO Act as it completes 10 years. 

For the third seminar, two Chief Guests (Inaugural and Valedictory Ceremony) were, Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju, Judge, High Court of Delhi was the Chief Guest of the inaugural ceremony and Justice Jasmeet Singh, Judge, High Court of Delhi attended the seminar as Chief Guest for valedictory ceremony. Prof (Dr) G.S. Bajpai (Vice-Chancellor, National Law University Delhi) and Ms. Bharti Ali (Co-Founder and Director, Haq: Centre for Child Rights) delivered the keynote addresses for the inaugural and valedictory ceremony. A presentation was given by Human Development Society on the findings of a study on child rape victims conducted in Delhi in 2018-19 for DCPCR. Following which a panel discussion was done with Mr. Pranat Joshi, Ms. Charu Makkar, Dr. Shipra Singh, Ms. Vidya Reddy.

The Seminar witnessed the presence of stakeholders across the various fields such as Director Public Prosecutor, Public Prosecutors, Advocates from DLSA,Child Welfare Committee,Civil Society Organizations, Lawyers, DCP’s, ACP’s, iProbono, DCPU’s and other organizations came together to discuss the issue. 

 

POCSO @10 “Justice, Trial, Proceedings and Pendency of POCSO Cases”

Delhi Commission for Protection  of Child Rights (DCPCR) in collaboration with HAQ: Centre for Child Rights organized a seminar to celebrate 10 years of  POCSO on POCSO@10 “Justice, Trial, Proceedings and Pendency of POCSO Cases” on 03 December, 2022 at Delhi Secretariat. The seminar was organized with an objective to gather the opinion about  what steps can be taken to reduce the pendency of cases and other mechanisms to be adopted for proper and timely redressal.

For the second seminar, the chief guest was Honourable Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, Judge, High Court of Delhi. The Special address was given by Ms. Soledad Herrero, Child Protection Chief UNICEF. The Keynote address was given by Honourable Justice Madan B. Lokur, Former Judge, Supreme Court of India. The seminar had presentations by HAQ: Centre for Child Rights and Vidhi center for legal policy. Following which a panel discussion was done. The panel was chaired by Honourable Justice Asha Menon, Former Judge Delhi High Court, Ms. Saema Jain, Mr. Anant Asthana, Mr. Inder Kumar and Mr. Mohd. Iqbal.

The Seminar witnessed the presence of stakeholders across the various fields such as Advocates from DLSA, Child Welfare Committee, Civil Society Organizations, Lawyers, DCP’s, ACP’s, iProbono, DCPU’s and other organizations came together to discuss the issue. 

Seminar on "POCSO ACT and AGE OF CONSENT: A DILEMMA" on 6th July 2022 

Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights, in collaboration with University of Delhi organized a seminar on "POCSO ACT and AGE OF CONSENT: A DILEMMA" on 6th July at Indian Law Institute, Delhi. The seminar was organized with an objective to gather suggestions and perspectives on how to proceed in cases, wherein two adolescents voluntarily engage in a sexual relationship without any elements of assault, exploitation, or criminality.

The seminar had a keynote address given by Hon'ble Justice A.P. Shah, the chief guest of the evening. Following which a panel discussion was done with Mr. Anant Asthana, Ms. Seema Khandekar and MS. G.C Kavitha moderated by Ms. Bharti Ali. This seminar witnessed the presence of stakeholders across the various fields such as Civil Society Organizations, Lawyers, Member Secretary of DLSA, JJB's, iProbono, Child Welfare Committee, DCP's, ACP's, DwCD, DCPU's, and other organizations came under one roof to discuss how to make Delhi a safe city for children.

 

Consultation on the Impact of the recent amendments in the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021 on 6th April 2022

Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights has organized a conference for discussion into the issue of constitutional validity of Section 26 of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2021 (“Amendment Act”) that amended Section 86 of the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (“Principal Act”). The Amendment Act has made offenses under Principal Act, 2015 which are punishable with imprisonment for a term of 3 years and above but not more than 7 years as non-cognizable which means that the Police cannot register the FIR or investigate or effect arrest, if required, without the order of a Judicial Magistrate.

Earlier such offenses under the Principal Act, 2015 were cognizable. Consequent to the Amendment Act the offenses under Section 75 (Punishment for cruelty to child.), Section 76 (Employment of child for begging), Section 77 (Penalty for giving intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug or psychotropic substance to a child), Section 78 (Using a child for vending, peddling, carrying, supplying or smuggling any intoxicating liquor, narcotic drug or psychotropic substance), Section 79 (Exploitation of a child employee), Section 81 (Sale and procurement of children for any purpose), Section 82(Corporal punishment) and Section 83 (Use of child by militant groups or other adults) under the Principal Act, 2015 have been made non-cognizable.

Even though the aforesaid offenses are grave and serious in nature, they have been made non-cognizable by the Amendment Act 2021, thereby, defeating the very objective and purpose of the Principal Act and diluting the rights of the Children. The Commission made an appeal to the Central Government that the Section 26 of the Amendment Act that makes the offenses against children which are punishable with imprisonment for a term of 3 years and above but not more than 7 years as non-cognizable should be amended suitably to restore the Section 86 of the Principal Act, 2015.

The speakers included Mr. Sanjay Singh (Hon’ble MP Rajya Sabha), Ms. Atishi (Hon’ble MLA Kalkaji, Delhi), DCPCR Chairperson Mr. Anurag Kundu, Senior Advocate Ms. Vrinda Grover, West Bengal SCPCR Chairperson Ms. Ananya Chakraborty and Rajasthan SCPCR Chairperson Ms. Sangeeta Beniwal.

National Conference on the 10th Anniversary of the Commission on the theme of Education

To mark the 10th year of service to the children, the Commission organised a national conference on 29. 07. 2018, bringing different stakeholders to share and showcase their best practices on the themes of social inclusion in schools and classrooms, particularly with regard to the integration of children belonging to socially and economically weaker sections in private schools, fostering discipline in schools to positively influence the behaviours of children without resorting to physical or mental violence of any kind, engaging the parents in the schools’ functioning and bridging learning deficit by sharing issues, observations, and innovations to bridge this gap.

The conference had participation from 4 different states and nearly 10 civil society organisations. It was attended by more than 40 education officials of municipal and state government along with nearly 40 civil society organisations.

Round table Conference on POCSO Act     

DCPCR in partnership with the NGO - Save the Children, India organised a One-day Round Table Conference on Child Sexual abuse wherein Save the Children presented the findings of exploratory research. This conference was organised on 27.08.2019 to understand the spatial dynamics of Child Sexual Abuse cases in Delhi, the hierarchy of vulnerable locations, and preventive actions to collectively address the issue with all the concerned stakeholders.

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