Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (NR/MB)
Mangalore, Aug 19: Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) has taken on an active role in opening law clubs in the colleges in Dakshina Kannada district, informed principal district and sessions judge H M Bharathesh, while addressing mediapersons here.
Judge Bharathesh who is also chairman of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), told presspersons that a decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the chairmen of the district legal services authorities convened by KSLSA in Bangalore, recently.
Expressing his deep concern over the issue of harassment and other social evils in colleges, he stated that the said law clubs will act as watchdog bodies, to make students aware of the adverse effects of academic evils such as ragging and harassment. And he also felt the need to take up a concerted campaign against growing instances of substance abuse among students, especially drugs and alcohol, to which they were unfortunately falling prey to, he lamented.
Bharathesh called upon the heads of colleges to approach K L Shivalinge Gowda, principal civil judge and member secretary of the district authority, for his guidance in starting these clubs.
Since the academic activities had just started, he noted that this was the right time to involve students in such projects, before they get busy with their academic routine. Moreover, he pointed out that this was a time when cases of ragging, if any, will be rampant around the campuses.
The role of the clubs would be to take the lead in informing students that a seemingly trivial activity of ragging in the name of introduction will have serious consequences, both physical and mental for the student concerned, he cautioned.
Awareness about the stringent legal consequences of acts like ragging and harassment is very important, Bharathesh warned. For creating such awareness among students the clubs could organise programmes that would bring home the ill-effects of such addiction.
Bharathesh concluded on a hope that the colleges would at least take the initiative in setting them up, by September-end.