Srinagar, May 5: Civil Society of Kashmir on Monday demanded establishment of Commission for protection of child rights and framing of Juvenile Justice (care and protection of Children) Act at par with national and international standards to safeguard the rights of children.
 “Juvenile Justice Act (care and protection) is a constitution. We have a very vague law at present. It is actually copy of a central law of 1986. State enacted law in 1997 but after ten years in 2007 rules were formulated for it. It is very unfortunate that state is not bringing this law at par with the Central Act. Even we can make a better law for care and protection of children given the mandate of making our own laws,” said Dr Rouf Mohidin Malik during one day consultation on Juvenile Justice Act which was organized by Arnimaal voluntary organization with civil social members and activist.
 Dr Malik also gave a detailed presentation about the variance in the Act between center and the state and called for the formation of Commission to protect the rights of children. 
 “This is the right time to frame the commission,” he added. 
 Calling for providing security and rehabilitation, Chairperson of Arnimall, Kalpana Tikoo said, “The present scenario of Jammu and Kashmir the child protection and security laws are very feeble. It is very important to take an initiative to rehabilitate the juveniles.” Tikoo also argued strongly that the traditional objectives of criminal justice, retribution and repression, must give way to rehabilitative and restorative objectives of juvenile justice.
 Another social activist Tanveer Hussain Khan stressed that a child or a juvenile is presumed to be innocent of any criminal intent up to the age of eighteen years. Any unlawful conduct of a juvenile or a child in conflict with law is ought to be covered by the principles of innocence. Juveniles in conflict with law have a right to be informed about the accusations against them and a right to be legally represented. Provisions must be made for legal services at state expense. This shall also include such juveniles’ right to present his case before the competent authority on his own.”
 Father of Tufail Matoo, Muhammad Ashraf Matoo said that how lack of juvenile justice Act is hampering investigation in the killings of his lone son.
 Others who spoke on the occasion included Dr Sheikh Ghulam Rasool, Raja Muzafar Bhat, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shahnawaz Sultan and Salma Ashahi.

Lastupdate on : Sat, 5 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 5 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 6 May 2012 00:00:00 IST