Hon'ble Mr. Justice Madan Lokur, Judge, Supreme Court of India, releases LexisNexis’s book ‘The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015: Critical Analyses’ authored by Professor Ved Kumari, Dean and Head, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi

January 21, 2017, New Delhi. LexisNexis^®, a leading provider of content and technology solutions for legal, corporate, tax, academic and government markets, released ‘The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 Critical Analyses’, at Indian Law Institute in New Delhi on January 20, 2017, evening. Chief Guest Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan Lokur, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Guest of Honour Professor Upendra Baxi, Distinguished Professor and Legal Scholar, released the book inpresence of Ms. Tannistha Datta, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, and many other eminent members from the bar, corporates and media.

During the occasion, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan Lokur congratulated Professor Ved Kumari for writing a wonderful book and said, “Professor Ved Kumari has successfully highlighted, sometimes subtly and sometimes bluntly, all issues related to childrenin her book and it will act as a sort of checklist for all those who are concerned with issues pertaining to children, whether they are activists or those in authority such as the bureaucrats, the police and the judiciary.” He also thanked Professor Ved Kumari for giving much desired insight into the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 and said, “The book is eminently readable. This is not a book; you can read it like a novel. It is good reference book when you have a doubt on the interpretation of the statute and how to implement the law. The book is a blend of philosophy, information and commentary on the Juvenile Justice Act. I would certainly commend this book to all those who have even the slightest interest in the welfare of the millions of children of the country. The book explains how to implement the law and how to make it more effective, how to get around them and make them workable.”

During the occasion, Professor Upendra Baxi appreciated Prof. Ved Kumari’s adherence to principles and values and said, “The book adapts a figure of children in conflict with law and another figure of law in conflict with children and seamlessly describes how sometimes the law is in conflict with the child rights.The book should be read as advancing one of the two conflicts.” The second point that Professor Baxi pointed out was putting cruelty first but putting cruelty against children first. The third and last observation was about the state actions. He concluded by asking how may we put children first without loving them.

During the occasion, Ms. Tannistha Datta said, “Our (her and Professor Ved Kumari’s) collective outrage and collectivism brought us together. I have learnt a lot from her professionally and personally.” On the book, she said, “It is her drive of reaching the unreached or going beyond just what is the written word and trying to get behind unpacked things is what is also behind this book. A cursory glance at the book tells me that it is of courseher succinct style of writing. It is not very legally jargonized, so it can be used by a lot of people, non-lawyers as well as the non-legal fraternity. In the Juvenile Justice System specifically, it will benefit the social workers, the counsellors and all the stakeholders who work on it in a multi-sectoral way, because that is also the need of the hour. I think the book will help us arrive at a common understanding of what this new law means for all of us. The book also sort of provides a blueprint to discussion and not just at an intellectual level but even up to the district level. The book has a very implementation kind of approach.”

Overwhelmed with the exceptional praise from the dignitaries present, Professor Ved Kumari said, “The book will be of immense use to all those interested in child rights, especially those involved in the interpretation and implementation of the Act; namely, judges of higher courts, judicial officers at district level, judicial academies, public prosecutors, defenselawyers, personnel of the child care institutions, police, District Child Protection Units, NGOs, researchers and anybody working in the field of child rights.” She specially thanked and dedicated this book to Professor Upendra Baxi, who has been her mentor and guide.

Mr. Vikesh Dhyani, Director, Marketing, Customer Discovery & Innovation, LexisNexis India-South Asia, said, “The book has been published as one of our multiple initiatives to advance the rule of law, facilitate access to justice and improve the legal processes and systems. The book critically examines the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 primarily from the perspective of child rights as recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and guidelines framed under the Convention keeping in mind the historical development relating to the juvenile justice system since 1850. It identifies lacunae in drafting of various provisions and suggests child friendly interpretations keeping in view the fundamental and general principles contained in the Act. These include the principles of best interest of child and presumptions of innocence and absence of mala fide intention in all children below the age of eighteen years. It points out the internal contradiction within the scheme of the Act and various omissions and gaps that need to be filled for holistic in view of the objectives of the Act.”

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