The National Law University, Odisha, here in collaboration with an India Justice Report team organised a conference on Saturday to present Odisha-specific insights to the custodians of the formal justice system — judiciary, police, prisons and legal aid.

Orissa High Court Chief Justice Dr S Muralidhar delivered the key note address emphasizing on the role of bar in the judicial system. The conference was divided into two sessions in which Session 1 discussed about ‘Judiciary and Legal Aid’ while the second session discussed about ‘Police and Prison.’

The first session was initiated by Chief Editor, India Justice Report, Maja Daruwala, who introduced the India Justice Report 2020.

Justices Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Bibhu Prasad Routray discussed the findings related to the State judiciary on “India Justice Report 2020 findings on Judiciary in Odisha.”

They recommended the plausible steps that could be taken by the State judiciary in reducing pendency of the cases.

The session was presented by fellow and programme director at DAKSHSurya Prakash BS and moderated by Registrar, NLUO Prof (Dr) Yogesh Pratap Singh.Furthermore, Chairperson – Orissa State Legal Services Authority Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Programme Head, Prison Reforms Programme, CHRI Madhurima Dhanuka discussed the findings related to legal aid.

The second session was initiated by DGP Abhay, who discussed on findings related to the State police on India Justice Report -2020 on Police in Odisha.  He welcomed the initiative, but opined that the nitty-gritty of the police system cannot be quantified by statistical numbers.

Director General of Prisons and Director of Correctional Services Santosh Kumar Upadhyay discussed the findings related to prisons based on findings of the report.

He highlighted the issues faced in the State prisons such as training, overcrowding problems and fiscal inefficiency.  He also emphasised on the use of technology in solving issues faced by prison.