Dr K.P. Asha Mukundan | Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Dr K.P. Asha Mukundan

Assistant Professor
Mumbai Campus,

Chairperson Centre for Criminology and Justice, School of Social Work - Mumbai Campus

Qualification

Doctor of Philosophy (Arts) in Sociology (Mumbai University),
M.A. (TISS)

Contact

kpasha [at]tiss[dot]edu

kpasha@tiss.edu

After graduating in Psychology from Mumbai University, Dr. Asha pursued her M.A. in Social Work from TISS, followed by a Ph.D in Sociology. Joined Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) as faculty Center for Criminology and Justice (erstwhile Department of Criminology and Correctional Administration) in 2005.

Dr. Asha has been working on issues related to child rights and juvenile justice since 1998. Before TISS, headed a prject Child Rights Cell which was a joint venture of the Women and Child Development Department [Government of Maharashtra (GOM)] and UNICEF. During this period, she also was selected on the panel of trainer to train Juvenile Justice functionaries by the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) (Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment-Government of India). Gets invited as a guest faculty to the National and State level Judicial Academy, and other colleges of Social Work to deliver lectures / session.

She is the Founder Member and Project Director of the Field Action Project titled “Resource Cell for Juvenile Justice” which works in 6 districts of Maharashtra. This project has been able to create a policy level impact on the juvenile justice system working with the juveniles in conflict with law in the state of Maharashtra. She was a part of sub-committees set up by the Mumbai HC to monitor the working of the JJ system in the State and preparing the Standard Operating procedures for the State of Maharashtra, amendment of the Maharashtra Juvenile Justice Rules.

Has been on the editorial board for the news letter Ujjwal which was jointly brought out by W&CD dept (GOM), Unicef, Balprafulta and Resource Cell for Juvenile Justice (TISS). She was also on the editorial board of the newsletter `Prabodan' being released by Don Bosco Bal Prafulta.

Dr. Asha Mukundan has been the recipient of Endeavour Fellowship granted by the Government of Australia in the year 2007, where she did a study to understand the working of the JJ system in New South Wales. Selected under the exchange teacher program to the University of Gavle, under the Linnaeus Palme Program in 2013

In September 2014 she has been appointed as Amaicus Curie on a Criminal Public Interest Litigation No.26/11 which looks into the issue of child labour.

She has been nominated as a member in the Executive Committee of Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority by the Bombay High Court (2016).

Dr. Asha heads the Committee comprising of 4 organisations appointed by the Bombay High Court to monitor the working of Dongri Children’s Home and Mankhurd Home as per the directions in the Sou Moto PIL No. 115 of 2014. (order dated 6th May 2016)

Areas of interest : Access to Justice, Child Rights, Juvenile Justice, Victimology, Human Rights, laws related to children.

Research studies done :

i. “Status of Justice Delivery System for Juveniles in Conflict with Law (JCL) in Maharashtra” 2008-2009

ii. “Status of Justice Delivery System for Juveniles in Conflict with Law (JCL) in Delhi” 2010-2011

iii. Mapping of Children's Residential institutions in Maharashtra 2014.

iv. Study on the Free Legal Aid Services in the observation home, Umerkhadi, Mumbai. 2014

v. Study to understand the existing mechanisms in which crime data is collated in the state of Maharashtra 2016.

vi. “Status of Justice Delivery System for Children in Conflict with Law (JCL) in Maharashtra” 2018-20

Mukundan, A. (2021). “Child Welfare Committee: Under Threat of Lawyers’ Ingress”. Indian Journal of Criminology, Vol 49, Issue No 2. 90-104. ISSN 0974-7249. https://indianjournalofcriminology.in/
Mukundan, A. (2022). “A social worker's quest for justice for children”, in Desai, M., & Mehta, N. (Eds.) Child-centred social work in India: Journeys and the way forward. Taylor & Francis. Routledge India.
Ajgaonkar, M., D'Souza, K. and Mukundan, K.P.A. (2020), "Resource cell for juvenile justice: challenges of motivation of social workers", Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, Vol. 10 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-11-2018-0256
Mukundan, A. (2018), Criminality and Passport Issuance : Clean Criminal Record a Prerequisite ?, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol 53, Issue No 22, 16-18.
Mukundan, K. P. A. (2017). Social work intervention in Juvenile Justice. In M. D. Chong & A. P. Francis (Eds.). Demystifying criminal justice social work in India (pp.145-164). New Delhi, India: Sage Publications ISBN No. 9789386062475
Mukundan, A. (2015), Real Story behind Juvenile Crime Data, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol L(25), 31-35. ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846
Mukundan, A. (2013). Status offences by Children: An overview. Journal of School of Social Work, Vol X (6), 3-7. ISSN: 0976-3795
Mukundan, K.P.A (2016, January 17). Why Maneka Gandhi left out ‘prison’ and ‘jail’ in her speech about the JJ Act and used ‘borstal school’ instead. Firstpost. Retrieved from http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-maneka-gandhi-left-out-prison-and-jail-in-her-speech-about-the-jj-act-and-used-borstal-school-instead-2587254.html
Mukundan, K.P.A (2016, September 09). NCRB Data: Handle with care. The Hindu. Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/NCRB-data-handle-with-care/article14628673.ece

Founder Member and Project Director of the Field Action Project titled “Resource Cell for Juvenile Justice” which operates from TISS and has its base in Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Amravati and Yavatmal. This project has been able to create a policy level impact on the juvenile justice system working with the juveniles in conflict with law in the state of Maharashtra.

Core Social Work Courses : Social Work Practice with Individuals, Research

Courses related to Child Rights and Juvenile Justice , Criminology and Justice.