Mangalore: Konaje Police Station Police Inspector Raghava S Padil asked students not to keep quite during sexual harassment fearing reputation, instead express it to the parents and police.
He was speaking at the legal literacy workshop, jointly organised by Dakshina Kannada District Legal Service Authority, Mangalore Bar Association and Balmatta Government Pre-University Women’s College, at the college here on Thursday.
He said that according to the new law, the victim of sexual harassment need not come to the police station to give further statements. The committee headed by a woman Sub Inspector comes to the house of victim in civil dress to register a complaint against accused. The intently of the victim would be withheld. Besides, anyone who would harass a girl below 18-year old is punishable under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act- 2002. After Delhi gang rape incident the Act has made more stringent, he said.
“Under Section 28 of the Act, there is scope to set up session courts to dispose sexual harassment cases at the earliest. Article 354 (A) of the Constitution is helpful to prohibit harassment of women. Police conduct enquiry of the victim in civil dress and not in uniform. There is no need to fear,” he said.
Second Additional District and Sessions Judge C M Joshi said that students have to study basic law well. Meanwhile, he stressed the importance of learning traffic rules for students. It would help unnecessary legal hurdles.
‘Education is human right’
Speaking on Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, Advocate Mayoora Keerthi said that during its Judgement on RTE Act, the Supreme Court had defined education as a field with many actors and the Court has distributed the responsibility of providing free and compulsory education to all children below 14-years of age or eight standard, to parents, teachers and society. According to the Act, even parents can’t keep their child at home without sending them to school. The law also gives right to the child to have transfer in the middle of academics. Free education is mentioned in human rights and it is implemented through the RTE Act, he said.
On cyber crime
Advocate K Vinayak Kamath explained how technology follows human being in the form of CC camera of mobile phones during modern world. Delivering a lecture on cyber crime, he said: “accessing, downloading, copying, extracting, virus damages, disrupting or causing to disrupt, denial or causing denial, service to the account of others, assistance in contravention, computer contamination can make you go jail. Especially, in modern world knowledge is the asset. We should be careful of our intellectual property and can’t copy others’ asset”.
Senior Civil Judge and District Legal Service Authority Member Secretary Ganesh B, Mangalore Bar Association President Ashok Ariga, College Principal P P Joseph were present among others.
