KOZHIKODE: As per a social justice department study, there are 3,118 children in conflict with the law (CCL) in the state and 2,146 connected cases pending. Kozhikode district tops the chart with 623 CCLs and 270 cases, followed by Kannur with 346 CCLs and 286 cases. For the refinement of the CCLs and to avert recidivism, the department has decided to expand ‘Kaval’ project to six more districts - Kannur, Malappuram, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. “Kaval is taking wings on the thumping success of its pilot in Kozhikode, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram with the cooperation of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) Bengaluru,” said its state nodal officer Subair K.K. NIMHANS is providing a 12-day training to all the stakeholders — police, judicial officers, district child protection officers, Legal Service Authority members and NGOs.
Under the project, the individual care plan should be given to each child who is in conflict with the law. After producing the child before the Juvenile Justice Board, they would be sent to NGOs picked for the implementation of ‘Kaval’. Children would be given 17-day comprehensive training by the trained personnel. “District-level review committee will follow up the case of each child on a monthly basis and state-level committee once in three months,” Mr Subair said. Kozhikode district child protection officer (DCPO) Sheeba Mumtaz says children involve in clashes in schools and so is the increase in the numbers. “Most of the cases are related to clashes in schools. So there would be more children involved in a single case,” she said. As per the assessment of the JJ board, ‘Kaval’ had successfully prevented recidivism among children.
