The Centre for Child Rights (CCR), National Law University Odisha (NLUO) celebrated its 11th anniversary on April 11, 2026 and unveiled its internationally indexed flagship journal – Journal on the rights of the child of national law university Odisha.
The event was headlined by Chairperson, Odisha State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (OSCPCR) Babita Patro.
Patro emphasized on the importance of addressing mental health and digital safety of children in Odisha. She underscored the need to engage directly with children in their lived environments to understand the challenges they face and to develop orders, directives, and policies that respond effectively to these realities.
Other dignitaries present in the event were Additional Director General of Police, Odisha (Crime Against Women and Children Wing) Shyni S, IPS, Director of Research and Knowledge Exchange, Child Rights and You (CRY) Subhendu Bhattacharjee; the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal on the Rights of the Child of National Law University Odisha, Prof Ved Kumari, and Vice-Chancellor (I/C), NLUO, Prof Rangin Pallav Tripathy, and Chief Minister's Chair Professor cum Director, CCR, NLUO Prof Biraj Swain.
Shyni S, IPS underlined the class and caste bias in dealing with children in conflict with law (CiCL), and called for self-awareness amongst child protection cadre (state and non-state) for self-awareness of inherent prejudices while handling such cases and sensitivity, keeping best interest of the child in mind.
Raising concerns about gaps in the implementation of legal frameworks, she pointed to the lack of clarity around diversion under the Juvenile Justice system and questioned certain procedural practices. She further emphasized the need to rethink approaches toward adolescents, particularly in sensitive contexts, and the importance of making law enforcement systems more child-friendly to reduce fear among children.
Speaking at the event, Prof Rangin Pallav Tripathy talked about the importance of not just starting an initiative but sustaining and strengthening them over time.
Prof Ved Kumari acknowledged the support of the state government of Odisha toward a multi-member team including two researchers and administrative support.
The publication of the Journal on the Rights of the Child Volume VII, Issue I, marks a step forward in the academic and practical pursuit of child rights in India.
The Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice Gita Mittal, Prof Bernd-Dieter Meier, Prof Christopher Birbeck, and Prof Bhabani Prasad Panda.
The Editorial Board led by Prof Ved Kumari (Editor in Chief), Prof Biraj Swain (Editor), Prof Ravinder Barn, Dr Frederick de Moll, Dr Damanjit Sandhu, Dr Asha Bajpai, and Dr Kalpana Purushothaman ensure the quality, integrity and inter-disciplinary depth of the publication.
The Journal on the Rights of the Child of National Law University Odisha, Vol -VII, Issue -I brings together 11 original contributions from across the country.
The volume includes the Presidential address by Justice Savitri Ratho, Judge, Orissa High Court and Chairperson - Juvenile Justice Committee, Orissa High Court and papers on juvenile justice jurisprudence, right to education, new education policy, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO, 2012), and mental health.
It also includes an infographic on child budget in Union Budget analysis with fact sheet. It is an open access journal, it can be accessed at - https://nluo.ac.in/journal-on-the-rights-of-the-child/.
The event was attended by representatives from government officials, Joint Director, Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA), Dept of School and Mass Education, Dr Santosh Rout, Programme Manager, Odisha State Child Protection Society (OSCPS), Pritikanta Panda, District Child Protection Officer-Cuttack, Pragati Mohanty, and Pamod Acharya.
XIM University, Dr Sandhya Rani Pal and KIIT School of Law Udit Narayan Mishra also were present in the event.
Representatives from important civil society organizations present were Bal Raksha Bharat, Dr Avijeet Bhadra, Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), Pratyush Panda, AIINA, Sneha Mishra, National Alliance for Women’s Organisation (NAWO), Bishakha Bhanja, Utkal Sevak Samaj, Anwoya Avinab, WaterAid, Jitendra Kumar Nayak, PCI Global, Biraj Laxmi Sarangi, World Resources Institute, Virajitha Chimalapathi, and PLAN International-India, Pradyut R Rout.
Selected student members of CCR Avismrita, Suraj, Kashish, Sushant, Akshat, Amit, Ashwani, Shahnaaz, Jyotirmay, Subhadra and students, staff and faculty of NLUO were also present.
The Centre for Child Rights is the only Chair Professorship on child rights amongst any university in the country, law and non-law included. It is a research, teaching, advocacy and practise centre and fully integrated with NLUO. The Centre is led by the Chief Minister’s Chair Professor cum Director Prof Biraj Swain.
Other faculty and staff members of the CCR are Co-Director, M Vijay Bhaskar, Co-Director, Akanksha Yadav, Researchers, Chief Minister’s Chair Professor team, Dr Swagatika Samal, and Dr Pradipta Kumar Sarangi, Office Assistant, Chief Minister’s Chair Professor team, Amulya Kumar Swain and Member, T Swaraaj.
The anniversary celebration event was organised in collaboration with Child Rights and You (CRY) and sponsorship partner, State Bank of India.
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