‘Every child entitled to get free and competent legal aid’ says District Legal Services Authority chairman in Goalpara

‘Every child entitled to get free and competent legal aid’ says District Legal Services Authority chairman in Goalpara

A Correspondent

Goalpara: The District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) of Goalpara district in Lower Assam on Wednesday organized a meeting at the district judicial court building for the stakeholders of the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) and reviewed its functioning.

Presided over by Tridip Bhattacharjee, chairman DLSA-cum-district and sessions judge, the meeting had a threadbare discussion on the bottlenecks faced by the stakeholders to implement the juvenile laws like Juvenile Justice Care and Protection (of children) Act 2015, Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Anchoring the session and specially focusing upon the children in conflict with law, Chitra Rani Saikia, secretary of DLSA, said, “Every child is entitled to get free and competent legal aid.” However, she lamented that the number of cases of free legal aid given to the juvenile offender was less in the JJB of Goalpara district.

Addressing the Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPU) officers, Saikia emphasized spreading the awareness that all the rape victims were entitled to get compensation from the DLSA. “The victim’s kin may also directly approach and apply at the DLSA office inside the district court,” she said. Achyutananda Saikia, principal magistrate of JJB, spoke on the pendency and disposal of the cases and appealed to all the stakeholders to work in cooperation for the best interest of the child. Beside the child welfare committee, child protection unit and JJB members, the meeting was also attended by the chief judicial magistrate, Ronjeeta Agarwala.

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