Lawyers get orientation on handling cases of juveniles

A three-day workshop for practising advocates on representing juveniles in conflict with law, before the Juvenile Justice Boards began at the Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of India University, on Wednesday. 

The workshop will provide orientation to lawyers with regard to the national and international legal framework available for dealing with juveniles. Lawyers will be sensitised about the challenges they may face while dealing with children in conflict with law.

Addressing the participants, Justice K Sridhar Rao, executive chairman, Karnataka State Legal Service Authority and a High Court judge, said that the best way to tackle juvenile crime at its roots is to provide better school education.

“We have to make children morally and ethically strong,” he said calling upon schools to focus on value-based education than mere skill-based curriculum. “There are no moral education classes in schools these days. Current education aims at making a career and earning money,” he said.

He felt that the NGOs had a pivotal role to play in reducing juvenile crimes. There is a lot of scope for NGOs not just in facilitating better education but also in  providing access to health-care to middleclass and lower middleclass income groups, who find it difficult to afford healthcare in private hospitals.

Justice Rao also emphasised on providing better infrastructure in remand homes. Currently, remand homes have poor infrastructure and one sees much misappropriation of funds. Even the food given to children is not of good quality, he said.

Child rights activist Niranjan Aradhya and Arlene Manoharan of the Centre for Child and the Law, Programme Head, Juvenile Justice, were present.