NAME: MRUNMAYEE MENDHE

ROLL NO.: 2018034

SUBJECT: CRPC
SYNOPSIS

WHAT CONSTITUTES A CHILD FRIENDLY PROCEEDING?

The backbone of child friendly justice system is that special care must be taken if children
whose lives have become surrounded in the legal system. There is a shi5ft in the ways our
justice system interacts with children. Child-friendly justice embraces the idea that courts can
be a powerful tool to positively shape children's lives and at the same time recognises the
reality that contact with the legal system is all too often more a source of additional trauma
than a remedy for children. Child friendly justice governs children’s rights, status and role in
legal proceedings. Child-friendly justice will introduce principles that empower children to
enforce their rights and encourages government, court, and law enforcement officials to develop
policies that address children's precarious situation in the justice system. Child friendly justice
will help in minimising the challenges that children face during legal proceeding, building
confidence in the country’s justice system as a solution to their legal issues. This will further help
in eliminating the traumatic experiences children face in the legal system. This will also foster
greater respect for their rights by providing children the full access to justice.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015 (‘JJ Act’) and the Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (‘POCSO Act’) heavily emphasize on adopting child
friendly practices. Moreover, India is taking efforts to fulfil its obligations under various
international commitments especially the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the
Child, 1989 (‘CRC’) which also lay emphasis on developing child friendly court practices.

The concept of child friendly proceedings involves multiple elements . This paper will mainly
focus on- (1)child friendly infrastructural settings of the court which will focus on
comparative analysis of the infrastructural settings installed in various states and foreign
countries and (2)child friendly exercises of examination and recording testimony of children
which will mainly focus on the measures involved in recording of testimony and
examinations of children.

REFERENCES
1. Business Standard, Four Child Friendly Courts inaugurated in West Bengal,
September 15, 2018, available at https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-
stories/four-child-friendly-courts-inaugurated-in-west-bengal-118091500387_1.html 

2. Conor O’Mahony, Kenneth Burns, Aisling Parkes, Caroline Shore, Child Care
Proceedings in Non-Specialist Courts: The Experience in Ireland, International
Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, Volume 30, Issue 2
3. Ministry of Women and Child Development, REHABILITATION OF CHILDREN IN
CONFLICT WITH THE LAW, available at  https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/SOP
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%20WITH%20THE%20LAW_0.pdf 

4. European Commission, Summary of contextual overviews on children’s involvement

in criminal judicial proceedings in the 28 Member States of the European Union,
available at http://www.childreninjudicialproceedings.eu/docs/EU%20Summary.pdf 

5. Kirsten Hanna et al., CHILD WITNESSES IN THE NEW ZEALAND CRIMINAL

COURTS: A REVIEW OF PRACTICE AND IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY, 2010,
available at http://www.ipp.aut.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/119702/Child-
Witnesses-in-the-NZ-Criminal-Courts-full-report.pdf 

6. The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015

7. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (‘POCSO Act’)

8. Using Anatomically Correct Dolls in Court: Pros, Cons, and Information to Consider,
October 13, 2012, available at http://ramblrviiessays.blogspot.com/2012/10/using-
anatomically-correct-dolls-in.html