Shimla Oct. 22
The Himachal Pradesh National Law University, Shimla in collaboration with the Institute of Correctional Administation, Chandigarh organised an online One-Day International Conference on “Restorative Justice and the Challenges of Twenty First Century”.
During the day-long event, participants from across the country participated and papers were presented on various aspects of Restorative Justice and its practical implications for Indian Legal System. The thematic address included areas such as – Restorative Justice and Its Prospects in India, Restorative Justice: An Alternative to Conventional Justice Response System, Re-Imagining Justice as Meeting Needs: Restorative Justice and Children in India, etc. The Sessions were highly insightful and divided into two components for enhancing the overall level of discussions – Theoretical Aspects and Empirical Aspects.
The event witnessed participation of more than 200 participants, belonging to Judiciary, academics in Law and other social sciences, Police and Jail administration from across Indian states, the United States and Australia. The Plenary Session was held between 6.30pm-9.30pm. The Plenary Session of the Conference was also graced with the distinguished presence of Dr. Lisa Rea, President, Restorative Justice International (RJI), effrey M. Deskovic, Director, Jeffrey Deskovic Foundation for Justice and Dr. K. P. Singh, former Director General of Police, Haryana and. The Conference ended with the concluding remarks by Dr Upneet Lalli, Deputy Director, Institute of Correctional Administation, Chandigarh.
The congregation of experts, scholars and officers of enforcement agencies concluded that the traditional legal and justice dispensation systems have failed to heal, repair and restore individuals wronged by crimes and maintain social relations, sentiments and connections. The idea of restorative justice is the way forward. In India, the Restorative Justice movement is still taking its roots and when operationalized, this movement has immense potential to reform judicial and legal systems and implementation of law and delivery of justice in the true sense of the term.
The research papers presented in the Conference would be published in the form of a book on the subject of Restorative Justice. Chanchal Kumar Singh, Assistant Professor of Law was the and Dr. Amit Chaturvedi, Assistant Professor of Sociology coordinated the Conference.
The day-long event was attended by Jailors of Central jails, Senior police officers of more than six states of India, including Haryana, Himachal, Rajasthan, Punjab, J&K and Uttar Pradesh.
Dr. Brian Steels, Director, Asian Pacific Forum of Restorative Justice (APFRJ) was the Keynote Speaker. Dr Upneet Lalli, Deputy Director, Institute of Correctional Administration, Chandigarh presented the thematic address.
Sanjay Kundu, Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh addressed the audience as the Guest of Honor and highlighted the challenges met during the practical application of the idea of restorative justice.
