Centre for Child Rights celebrates its 10th anniversary on 12th April 2025 and re-launches its flagship journal, the Journal on the Rights of the Child of National Law University Odisha

The Centre for Child Rights (CCR) at National Law University Odisha (NLUO) is turning 10 on 12^th April, 2025. To mark the occasion it will re-launch its flagship journal, the Journal on the Rights of the Child of National Law University Odisha.

The occasion will be graced by Hon’ble Justice Savitri Ratho, Judge of Orissa High Court and also the Chair of the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Orissa High Court. She will deliver the Presidential Address. The welcome address will be delivered by Prof Ved Kumari, Vice Chancellor, National Law University Odisha, also the Patron-in-Chief of CCR.

The CCR is the second oldest Centre for Child Rights in any National Law University in India. It is also the only Centre with a Chair Professor on Child Rights in any university (Law or non-Law included). Thanks to the efforts of the Professor Ved Kumari, one of the foremost scholars on Juvenile Justice, the Chair Professorship was set with a generous grant from the Government of Odisha in 2023 but became fully functional in 2024.

Founded in 2015, the CCR was inaugurated by the then Visitor from Hon’ble Supreme Court, the former Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra. Hon’ble Justice Pradip K Mohanty, then acting Chief Justice of Orissa High Court, various judges of Orissa High Court and officers of the Women and Child Development Department of Government of Odisha also graced the occassion. The incumbent Vice Chancellor during the founding of CCR was Prof Srikrishna Deva Rao, the current Vice Chancellor of NALSAR Hyderabad.

Originally CCR was founded to strengthen the human resources of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB) and Child Welfare Committees (CWC) and push the discourse on juvenile justice. CCR has since evolved into a national and global thought leader on child rights, justice and wellbeing.  CCR’s remit has expanded to all aspects of childhood and child rights, from thought leadership, curating and teaching courses on all aspects of child rights and determinant sector, convening colloquiums, foregrounding child rights in everyday discourse, advising the state and its instruments for better practices and reforms and building a child rights’ centric temper in the society. CCR also leads the building of child-friendly communities in the NLUO’s flagship intervention in neighboring settlements of Brajabeharipur, Valmiki Nagar and Baba Tilkanagar. The child friendly communities are a commitment of the government of India to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) mandate and as per NITI Ayog indicators. It is to protect and promote the children and their voice, participation and agency in their native communities.

The Centre also curates and teaches courses on Child Rights and determinant sectors. These courses are curated with a special focus on bridging the gap between the lexis and praxis, experiential learning, live projects and contributes to the capacity-building at multiple levels. With projects spanning from Odisha to collaborations with other NLUs and international agencies, CCR continues to serve as a bridge between classrooms, courtrooms and communities. Child Rights course offered to 4^th year BA-LLB and BBA-LLB students and the Food and Nutrition Justice course offered to 5^th year BA-LLB and BBA-LLB students have been two of the most opted electives of the 2024-25 academic year.

CCR also works on making economic, social and cultural rights like education, health, nutrition etc, that enhances the life chances of every child, justiciable for every child.

The 10^th anniversary special edition, Volume 6 of the Journal on the Rights of the Child of National Law University Odisha, will be launched in the event. The journal presents original works spanning research papers, case commentaries, opinion pieces and infographic fact-sheet. The themes explored in this edition include evolution of jurisprudence on juvenile’s right to bail, childhood obesity in a fast changing world, status check on the Right to Education, equity as imagined in the school meal programme of PM POSHAN, re-analysis of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on status of children in conflict with law in Odisha, child marriage, adoption, Romeo – Juliet laws in India, juvenile delinquency in India, refugee children’s rights, digital childhood, children’s contractual rights in influencer economy with special focus on sports and entertainment industry, best interests of children in custody disputes.

The Journal’s advisory board has some of the most eminent global names in Law and Justice i.e. Justice Madan Lokur, Justice Gita Mittal, Prof Bernd-Deiter Meier, Prof Christopher Birbeck and Prof Bhavani P Panda.

Other dignitaries who will attend the 10^th anniversary celebration are Subhendu Bhattacharjee from leading child rights’ non-profit CRY, Sourav Bhattacharjee from UNICEF and many champions of child rights in the law, civil society and media sector.

As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations, CCR reaffirms its vision to build a “child rights temper” and to advocate for justice “anywhere and everywhere,” irrespective of contexts. Its mission remains rooted in leveraging knowledge for legal, policy and practice reform and making access to justice a reality for every child.

CCR at NLUO is led by the Chief Minister’s Chair Professor-cum-Director, Prof Biraj Swain supported by a team of senior researchers Dr Swagatika Samal, Dr Pradipta K Sarangi and office administrator Mr Amulya Swain. The CCR also has a UNICEF consultant Ankit K Keshri. The CCR has two co-directors Dr Shubhanginee Singh and Dr Rashmi Rekha Baug.

The CCR also has one of the most vibrant student body which has come through an open competitive process headlined by Dhruv Dhingra (Convenor), Aradhana Nayak (Co-Convenor). Other members of the CCR student body are: Anuj Kulhar (Advisor), Avismrita Shyamali Mishra (Mentor), Madhulika Tripathy (Mentor), Suraj Mishra (Secretary), Jyotirmaya Choudhary (Joint Secretary), Priyanka P Das and Kashish Rathore (Social Media team), Abhinandan, Poorna Mishra, Amit K Samal, Ishika Bhattacharyya (Research and Documentation), Kriti Jain, Shahnaz Najm Chowdhury (Events and Logistics) and Akshat Prakash, Sriti Basu, Sushant Mishra, Reyansh Thakur and Bharat B Tayal (members). The students bring out a bi-monthly newsletter which provides a global scan of the key development on child rights, they run the LinkedIn and the Instagram pages. As this report is being written the students are running an explainer series on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

More can be found about CCR here: https://nluo.ac.in/centre/centre-for-child-rights-ccr/

The social media handles of CCR are:

• Instagram: Centre for Child Rights, NLUO (@centreforchildrightsnluo) • Instagram photos and videos
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/centre-for-child-rights-nluo/

For more you can contact:

• Prof Biraj Swain: +91 9868524754 / swain@nluo.ac.in
• Dr Swagatika Samal: +91 8249012917 / swagatika@nluo.ac.in