Capacity Building and Sensitization Training for Officers of the Special Juvenile Police Unit

Centre for Child and the Law organised a Capacity Building and Sensitivity Training for the Special Juvenile Police Unit officers of South-East Bengaluru. The event was organised in collaboration with the Association for the Promotion of Social Action (APSA) and the Bangalore Oniyavara Seva Coota (BOSCO). Around 39 officers from 13 police stations in Madiwala zone attended the training. 

The event opened with the watering of a plant and addresses by the Chief Guests Mr. K C Lakshminarayana, ACP, Madiwala; Mrs. Sheila Devaraj, Director, APSA; and Dr. Nigam Nuggehalli, Registrar, National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. This was followed by the first session by Mr. Biju Thomas, Superintendent, ECHO Special Home on ‘Awareness on Principles of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children), Act 2015’. Mr. Thomas gave an excellent and detailed introduction to the basics of the law tailored to the specific needs of SJPU Officers. The second session was by Ms. Nagamani C N, Child Rights Trust on awareness on child rights. Ms. Nagamani focused her session on anti-child marriages and the role of the police in preventing child marriage. 

Post lunch, the penultimate session was conducted by Dr. Kalpana Purushottaman, child psychologist and Member, Principal Juvenile Justice Board, Bengaluru Urban. Dr. Purushottaman led an extremely engaging session on understanding the background and psychology of children in conflict with the law, in order to sensitize the officers on how to deal with them in a compassionate and child-friendly manner. The event ended with a closing session by Mr. Chetan of Sampradaya Trust, where every participant took a pledge about one action that they would personally take after undergoing the day’s training.