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.

Page | 2

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.

Page | 3

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

Page | 5

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