Dr. Shailesh Kumar will be joining Prof. Leslie J. Moran (Emeritus Professor, School of Law, Birkbeck College) to talk on the topic ‘Exploring the judicial role and its challenges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (‘POCSO’) Act, 2012’.

Interested people can attend this free in-person event by booking their place at the following link: IALS Booking Form Master Template - Form (sym-online.com)

The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (‘POCSO’) Act, 2012 introduced a new court into the Indian legal system. It is an institutional regime dedicated to dealing with the challenges within criminal justice that arise from cases of sexual offences against children. After setting out the key characteristics of this new criminal justice regime the focus of the conversation will be the distinctive role that the judges play in these courts. The discussion will draw on Dr Kumar’s empirical research in this field. Between 2019 and 2020 he conducted extensive fieldwork in India. This included courtroom observation and interviews with various stakeholders. Of particular significance for this conversation are in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews with 17 judicial officers (Judicial Magistrates & POCSO Special Judges) through which he explored judicial perceptions and experiences of the POCSO courts. One of the areas of particular interest is the role of stakeholder training. The discussion will explore what if any are the effects of such training on judicial stakeholder engagement with child victims and on CSA cases in the POCSO courts.

More details of the event are available here: Judicial Conversation. Exploring the judicial role and its challenges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (‘POCSO’) Act, 2012. | Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (sas.ac.uk)