Mysore, April 10, 2013 :
Legal awareness among the masses is very essential for the reformation of criminals who come out of the jails after serving their sentence, said Justice Mohan Sripad Sankolli, Principal District and Sessions Judge, who also is the Chairman of District Legal Services Authority.
He was speaking after inaugurating the Lok Adalat at the Central Jail premises in city held under the joint aegis of the Authority, Rotary Mysore West and the Central Jail.
“The convicts who come out of jail after serving sentences, must be accepted and welcomed by the society with open arms which should allow them to live as useful citizens of the society,” said the Judge and rued that instead, the society treated the convicts as untouchables.
“Even the government and private sector organizations discriminate the convicts by not giving them jobs,” said Sankolli and pointed out that if they are denied job opportunities to eke out a living in a respectable manner, they will be forced to get back to crime.
“A person is not born as a criminal. Certain circumstances lead them to committing crimes. Once the convict serves the jail term as punishment, he must be given another opportunity to reform himself,” said the Judge and opined that to overcome this discrimination, people must be made legally aware.
He also suggested that the legal aspects that one confronts in one’s day-to-day life must be printed in booklets at affordable costs and distributed among the masses.
Rotary Mysore West, in a humanitarian gesture, will be helping in getting 62 convicts released from the jail by paying their fines.
