From courtroom litigator to global child rights crusader
New Delhi: In 2005, Bhuwan Ribhu , who was just 25 then, was another young lawyer walking into Delhi High Court. Unlike many of his peers, he wasn't chasing corporate clients or courtroom glory. He went there to challenge society's acceptance of child labour as a norm. He spoke before no media cameras, no packed benches — just with a firm belief that children deserved better having noticed a lack of enforcement ethics during a rescue operation that very morning."My journey started in 2005 after I saw a rescue operation where the law enforcement agencies were not enforcing the law properly. That evening, I filed my first big PIL and since then there has been no turning back."Two decades later, Ribhu has become the first Indian lawyer to receive the Medal of Honour from the World Jurist Association at the World Law Congress. The award, presented in the Dominican Republic, recognised his work on children's rights and the reforms made in the sector over the years. With more than 60 public interest cases filed in the Supreme Court and various high courts, Ribhu helped bring India's child protection approach from the margins to the centre of the legal justice system.Ribhu said, "I would say that justice is a journey. It is not a goal. We are only as good as our last decision as a society. Therefore, we have to build and strengthen this wall of protection brick by brick."At the heart of this shift is Just Rights for Children (JRC), the legal intervention network the lawyer co-founded, now a coalition of over 250 organisations across the country. Between April 2023 and March this year, JRC's coordinated efforts led to the rescue of 85,465 trafficked children, foiled 3,30,496 child marriages and provided legal aid to over 34,000 survivors of sexual abuse.Ribhu's work is guided by a clear strategy, encapsulated in his PICKET strategy: Policy, Institutions, Capacity-building, Knowledge, Economics and Technology. It includes a plan to end child marriage in India by 2030. First introduced in his book When Children Have Children, PICKET was adopted by both the central govt and 416 districts as part of the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign launched in Nov 2024.In 2011, through a case filed and argued by Ribhu, the Supreme Court defined the trafficking of persons, aligning it with the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children. This landmark case led to the inclusion of a specific offence against trafficking in the Indian Penal Code. The Justice Verma Committee, established to recommend legal reforms following the Nirbhaya gangrape case in 2012, included Ribhu's proposals to add new offences such as the accountability of public servants, stalking, voyeurism, trafficking and exploitation of a trafficked individual, among others, in its recommendations to govt.Then in 2013, Ribhu's work, grounded in evidence and experience, brought the issue of missing children to the forefront, leading to a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court mandating compulsory registration of all missing children cases. It also applied the Doctrine of Presumption of Crime in trafficking or kidnapping cases and directed the creation of standard operating procedures for investigating missing children cases. Similarly, his work in 2015 led to the Juvenile Justice Act being reformed.Ribhu also assisted the Indian govt in defending the fundamental right to education in the Supreme Court. His cases led to the development of the National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction, 2016, and the inclusion of child right to education in the National Education Policy, 2020.Just a year back, Ribhu was the petitioner when the Supreme Court introduced the term 'Child Sexual Exploitative and Abuse Material (CSEAM)' on Sept 23 to replace 'child pornography'. In another judgment on child marriage in Nov 2024, the Supreme Court gave a structured and comprehensive guide on combating child marriage in the country."My child is just 10 years old. When anyone asks him about his father's profession, he says my father protects children," the 45-year-old lawyer smiled. "So, yes, if a child knows the difference between good and evil, my role now is to make the country and the world learn the same." Ribhu said the award was a recognition of India's leadership and contribution in child protection. But, he added, it "has added more responsibility for us to end child marriage and impunity against child sexual abuse".
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