Oxford Bookstore Connaught Place hosted the eighth edition of Zubaan, series of critical conversations, How Juvenile is Juvenile, on 25 August. The panelists included Joachim Theis (Chief Child Protection, UNICEF India), Achal Bhagat (psychiatrist and psychotherapist), Suneeta Dhar (Director, JAGORI), Atiya Bose (Director, Policy and Advocacy, AANGAN Trust). The discussion was moderated by Enakshi Ganguly Thukral (Co-founder and Co-director, HAQ Centre for Child Rights).
The session focussed on certain question like - Who is a juvenile and who is not? Can age be the only defining factor to determine an issue that has such wide ranging implications and ramifications? How does one look at the juvenile justice act that is currently under discussion? How will it impact consensual sex? Will it bring greater number of people under the ambit of the criminal law? How do we look upon the issue of ‘maturity’ and ‘criminality’ in a young person? Is not the idea of a ‘heinous offender’ of 16 years a reflection of a society determined to punish rather than reform? Can we ensure safety of women and society by punishing juvenile offenders like adults?
Zubaan is an independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi. It was set up as an imprint of India’s first feminist publishing house, Kali for women, and carries forward Kali’s tradition of publishing world quality books to high editorial and production standards. It works in the areas of the humanities, social sciences, as well as in fiction, general non-fiction, and books for children.
The session focussed on certain question like - Who is a juvenile and who is not? Can age be the only defining factor to determine an issue that has such wide ranging implications and ramifications? How does one look at the juvenile justice act that is currently under discussion? How will it impact consensual sex? Will it bring greater number of people under the ambit of the criminal law? How do we look upon the issue of ‘maturity’ and ‘criminality’ in a young person? Is not the idea of a ‘heinous offender’ of 16 years a reflection of a society determined to punish rather than reform? Can we ensure safety of women and society by punishing juvenile offenders like adults?
Zubaan is an independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi. It was set up as an imprint of India’s first feminist publishing house, Kali for women, and carries forward Kali’s tradition of publishing world quality books to high editorial and production standards. It works in the areas of the humanities, social sciences, as well as in fiction, general non-fiction, and books for children.