Day 2 of National Annual Stakeholders Consultation on Ten Years of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 Concludes at Supreme Court of India
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Day 2 of National Annual Stakeholders Consultation on Ten Years of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 Concludes at Supreme Court of India
“Move From Annual Recommendations to Annual Accountability”: Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.B. Pardiwala Calls for a Concrete Indicator-Driven Framework and Grassroots Alignment in Valedictory Address
UNICEF Highlights Primacy of Prevention, De-Institutionalization, and Standardized Outlines for Preliminary Assessments
Ministry of Women and Child Development Outlines Proposes Legislative and Administrative Overhauls, Digital Tracking, and Strengthening of Aftercare Ecosystem
New Delhi, 12th October, 2026
The two-day National Annual Stakeholders Consultation on “Ten Years of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: Progress, Challenges and Priorities for the Next Decade”, organised by the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Supreme Court of India in association with UNICEF India, drew to a close yesterday, October 11, 2026, at the Auditorium, C-Block, Administrative Buildings Complex, Supreme Court of India.
The Valedictory Ceremony marked the culmination of two days of intensive deliberations among Supreme Court and High Court Judges, senior executive leadership, juvenile justice board members, child protection practitioners, and civil society organisations, synthesising progress over the past decade and charting actionable priorities for the decade ahead.
The concluding session was attended by Hon’ble Mrs. Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Chairperson, Juvenile Justice Committee; Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.B. Pardiwala, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Member, Juvenile Justice Committee; Hon’ble Mr. Justice A.S. Chandurkar, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Member, Juvenile Justice Committee; alongside brother and sister Judges of the Supreme Court, former Supreme Court Judges, and High Court delegations.
Ms. Milen Kidane, Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF India, reflected on the milestone of establishing core institutional structures across the country over the last ten years, noting that the focus must now shift to making these systems transformative and responsive.
She noted that under the direction of Hon’ble Mrs. Justice Nagarathna, stakeholders will collaborate to develop clear outlines for Juvenile Justice Boards conducting preliminary assessments in heinous offences, balancing public concern with the fundamental truth that an adolescent remains a child whose entire circumstances must be evaluated.
Delivering the Special Address, Mr. Anil Malik, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, outlined the Union Government’s administrative and statutory trajectory under Mission Vatsalya and the national budget.
Delivering the Closing Remarks, Hon’ble Mr. Justice J.B. Pardiwala, Judge, Supreme Court of India and Member, Juvenile Justice Committee, called for an honest and rigorous reckoning with the constitutional vision of child rights.
His Lordship observed that the commitment to children did not commence in 2015, 2000, or 1986, but with the founding vision of the Constitution of India. He cautioned that incremental improvement cannot be conflated with social transformation, noting: “For how many years may a gap remain a gap before it becomes an institutional failure?”
Citing Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s constituent assembly address on the necessity of remedies over mere paper rights, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pardiwala cautioned against conferences becoming annual rituals of rediscovering familiar problems. His Lordship proposed introducing a streamlined, transparent annual accountability framework with defined indicators, measuring actual vacancies filled, standards elevated in CCIs, and children restored to education and aftercare.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pardiwala emphasized that the conventional administrative hierarchy must be reversed by listening to the frontline workers closest to the child-probation officers, social workers, teachers, and counsellors. His Lordship stressed that addressing symptoms (such as removing begging children from street intersections) achieves little if the child simply returns to homelessness, hunger, and exploitation.
Urging institutions to measure every expense against whether it genuinely improves a child’s life, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pardiwala concluded by framing the goal for the next decade: not merely that India administered the Act better, but that India became a genuinely better place in which to be a child.
The recorded live proceedings of the Valedictory Session are accessible at:
https://www.youtube.com/live/cwBuc1nSLoA?si=clwNXJRZvpnwrzR5
MC
