{"id":9254,"date":"2026-09-07T02:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T02:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/?p=9254"},"modified":"2026-09-07T02:14:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T02:14:36","slug":"a-decade-of-jj-act-odisha-calls-for-stronger-prevention-rehabilitation-and-family-based-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/?p=9254","title":{"rendered":"A decade of JJ Act: Odisha calls for strong prevention, rehabilitation and family-based care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>State-Level Stakeholders\u2019 Consultation reviews decade-long implementation of Juvenile Justice Act and charts roadmap for next decade<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Bhubaneswar, September 6, 2026<\/em> [ADN]<\/strong> A State-Level Stakeholders\u2019 Consultation on \u201cJuvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: A Decade of Implementation and the Way Forward\u201d was held today in Bhubaneswar with the participation of Hon\u2019ble Justice Harish Tandon, Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa; Hon\u2019ble Justice Savitri Ratho, Chairperson, Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of Orissa; Dr. Mrinalini Darswal, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Women &amp; Child Development, Government of Odisha; and Mr. Prasanta Dash, Chief of Field Office for Odisha, UNICEF, along with senior judicial officers, government officials, police officers, child rights experts and representatives of civil society organisations. The consultation was jointly organised by the Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of Orissa, and the Department of Women &amp; Child Development, Government of Odisha, in association with UNICEF Odisha, to review a decade of implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and deliberate on the way forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The consultation brought together stakeholders from the judiciary, police, Women &amp; Child Development, School and Mass Education, State Commission for Persons with Disabilities, child protection institutions, legal services authorities, academia, UNICEF and civil society organisations to deliberate on key aspects of child protection and juvenile justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Addressing the consultation, Hon\u2019ble Justice Harish Tandon, Chief Justice, High Court of Orissa, emphasised the need to place prevention at the centre of juvenile justice. He said, \u201cPrevention must be at the heart of juvenile justice. We must address vulnerabilities at the grassroots so that children do not come into conflict with law or enter institutional care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The inaugural session also included an overview of the JJ Act and its implementation in Odisha, presented by Hon\u2019ble Justice Savitri Ratho, Chairperson, Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of Orissa , Dr. Mrinalini Darswal, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of Women &amp; Child Development, and reflections on ten years of implementation and preventive approaches by Mr. Prasanta Dash, Chief of Field Office for Odisha, UNICEF.<br>The technical deliberations were organised through four thematic panel discussions, covering key dimensions of child protection and juvenile justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first panel focused on \u201cRights of Children in Conflict with Law\u201d, including preliminary assessment in heinous offences, pre-production and post-production processes and rehabilitation. Dr. Kalpana Purushothaman served as Resource Person and Facilitator. The panel included Ms. Shyni S, IPS, ADG of Police, Crime Against Women &amp; Children Wing, Odisha; Mr. Hara Prasad Pattnaik, ADJ-cum-P.O., Children\u2019s Court, Khordha; Mr. Ashish Pattnaik, Civil Judge (Sr. Divn.), Principal Magistrate, Juvenile Justice Board, Rayagada; Mr. Manan Biswas, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF; and Ms. Susmita Pattnaik, District Child Protection Officer, Sambalpur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second panel deliberated on \u201cRights of Children in Need of Care and Protection (CNCP)\u201d, with discussions on vulnerability mapping, prevention of children becoming CNCP, functioning of Child Welfare Committees and case management, including children with special needs and rehabilitation through departmental convergence. Ms. Nimisha Srivastava was the Resource Person and Facilitator. The panel comprised Dr. N. Thirumala Naik, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Department of School and Mass Education; Ms. Bratati Harichandan, IAS (Retd.), State Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Odisha; Ms. Banita Moharana, Inspector of Police, Crime Against Women &amp; Children Wing, Odisha; Mr. Pritikanta Panda, State Programme Manager, Odisha State Child Protection Society; and Ms. Swagatika Patra, Chairperson, Child Welfare Committee, Kendrapada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The third panel focused on \u201cFamily-based Care and Adoption\u201d, covering promotion of family strengthening and prevention of family separation, adoption and foster care, sponsorship and aftercare. Mr. Prabhat Kumar served as Resource Person and Facilitator. The panel included Ms. Babita Patro, Chairperson, Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights; Ms. Monisha Banerjee, IAS, Director, ICDS &amp; SW, Department of Women &amp; Child Development; Mr. Keerthi Vasan V, IAS, District Collector &amp; Magistrate, Ganjam; Ms. Biraj Swain, Chief Minister\u2019s Chair Professor and Director, Center for Child Rights, National Law University Odisha; and Mr. Prasanta Kumar Palatasingh, Project Director, SANYOG, a civil society organisation working on family-based care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fourth panel deliberated on \u201cOffences against Children\u201d, with focus on prevention of offences against children, child-friendly procedures by police and courts and legal aid for survivors. Mr. Vedprakash Gautam was the Resource Person and Facilitator. The panel comprised Ms. Sunitha Krishnan, Padma Shri Awardee, Anti-Human Trafficking Expert and Social Activist; Smt. Janaki Biswal, ADJ-cum-P.O., Special Court under POCSO Act, Nayagarh; Dr. Umashankar Dash, IPS, IG, Fire and Emergency Services, Home Guards and Civil Defence; Dr. Reenati Mishra, Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Sundargarh; and Mr. Miguel Das Queah, Child Rights Expert and Support Person under POCSO Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The consultation highlighted that the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 has brought significant changes to India\u2019s child protection and juvenile justice architecture, including mechanisms for children in conflict with law and children in need of care and protection. Reforms over the past decade have also sought to improve adoption processes, strengthen Child Welfare Committees (CWCs) and Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), enhance district-level accountability and align child protection services under Mission Vatsalya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Participants emphasized the need for continued strengthening of the system through enhanced infrastructure, capacity building of frontline personnel, stronger institutional mechanisms and greater inter-departmental coordination. The discussions also focused on emerging risks confronting children, including cybercrime and online exploitation, trafficking, substance abuse, migration and other forms of vulnerability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hon&#8217;ble Justice M.S.Raman Judge High Court of Orissa and member of Juvenile justice Committee High Court of Orissa has extended Vote of Thanks to the Hon&#8217;ble Chief Justice of High Court of Orissa and other dignitaries present as well as all the participants and stakeholders for their active support and participation for the successful organisation of the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bhubaneswar, September 6, 2026 [ADN] A State-Level Stakeholders\u2019 Consultation on \u201cJuvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9254"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9257,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9254\/revisions\/9257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agamiduniya.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}