State-Level Annual Stakeholders Consultation – 2026 Concludes at Karnataka Judicial Academy
Bengaluru:
The Juvenile Justice Committee, High Court of Karnataka, in coordination with the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, Karnataka Judicial Academy, Department of Women and Child Development, Directorate of Child Protection, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, NIMHANS, UNICEF and several non-governmental organisations, organised the Two-Day State-Level Annual Stakeholders Consultation – 2026 on 29 and 30 August 2026 at the Auditorium, Karnataka Judicial Academy, Bengaluru. This year’s theme, “The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015- a decade of implementation and the way forward,” marked ten years since the Act came into force.
The consultation was inaugurated on 29 August 2026 by Hon’ble Shri Justice Vibhu Bakhru, Chief Justice, High Court of Karnataka and Patron-in-Chief, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and Karnataka Judicial Academy. The inaugural session was held in the presence of Hon’ble Smt. Justice Anu Sivaraman, Judge, High Court of Karnataka and Executive Chairperson, Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, and Hon’ble Shri Justice Jayant Banerji, Judge, High Court of Karnataka and President, Karnataka Judicial Academy. Hon’ble Shri Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav, Judge, High Court of Karnataka, Chairman of the Juvenile Justice and POCSO Committee and Governor, Karnataka Judicial Academy, presided over the session. Shri Sony Kutty George, Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF; Shri Santosh Kumar, Chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights; and Dr. Shamla Iqbal, IAS, Secretary to Government, Department of Women and Child Development, attended as Chief Guests.
In his presidential address, Justice Yadav said, “This consultation is an opportunity to critically examine a decade of implementation of the Act and chart the way forward, to ensure a robust regime of Juvenile Justice based on the principle of ‘best interests of the child.” Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru, together with the other dignitaries on the dais, released three publications: a Standard Operating Procedure on the POCSO Act; a Kannada handbook titled “Makkala Samrakshanegagi Kanoonugala Anushtana Hagu Vyavastegala Parichaya-Kaipidi”; and an English handbook on the “Application of the Principle of Best Interests of the Child by Child Welfare Committees.”
Ten years of the Act, Justice Narendra Prasad noted in his overview, offered an occasion not merely to look back but to pause, take stock of experience, identify the challenges that continue to confront the system, recognise good practices and determine the way forward.
The first day opened with young persons who had themselves passed through the juvenile justice system sharing their perspectives, followed by working-group deliberations across four themes: Adoption; Children in Conflict with Law and Preliminary Assessment; Children in Need of Care and Protection; and the Working of Children’s Courts. Each group mapped progress and challenges under its theme, presenting its findings at an afternoon session followed by an open-house discussion.
The second day examined ten years of the Act through data, with presentations covering the status of structures, rehabilitation and alternate care; the status of implementation of the Act; police data on children in conflict with law; and the outcomes of preliminary assessments before Juvenile Justice Boards and children’s courts. The four working groups then developed action plans, which were presented and discussed before the consultation concluded.
The action plans arising from the consultation will now be taken forward by the respective institutions represented. For assistance relating to child protection, the public may contact the Childline helpline at 1098 or the NALSA helpline at 15100.
