Legal Literacy Program at Mala Free Legal Aid Cell

On 18^th December 2016 Mala free legal aid cell conducted a Legal Literacy programme on the topic titled ‘Child Rights’ at Hedgewar Higher Secondary School, Mala.

The programme commenced with the welcome address delivered by the faculty incharge of the cell Prof. Bhakti Naik. The key speakers from child line were Ms. Pranita Kalangutkar and Ms. Jessica Pereira. Jessica Pereira spoke about the objective and functioning of the child line which functions under the Ministry of Women and Child Development. Ms. Parnita Kalangutkar spoke about the works under taken by their organisation which included working for betterment of street children; helping children in distress, orphans; efforts undertaken to prevent child abuse etc. She educated the audience on three abuses against the child i.e. Physical, emotional and sexual and further explained on good and bad touch and the way parents / guardians must handle such cases.  She also enlightened on the rights of the child which included ‘right to survival’, ‘right to education’ etc. A couple of live cases handled by the organisation were also stated at the programme.

An animated video clip which was based on the real case of child abuse was screened. She appealed to the audience categorically stating that child abuse is a grave offence and the distressed or the complainant must immediately contact the helpline no 1098 in any such instances.

The session was informative and interactive. The entire programme was compared by Siddharth Sardesai and it ended with verse of gratitude delivered by Jay Sawaikar.

Cyber Laws & Cyber Crimes - Awareness Drive by Mala Free Legal Aid Cell

With the sole objective of creating vigilance and awareness on cyber crimes, The Mala Legal Aid Cell of V. M. Salgaocar College of Law under the guidance of Prof. Shruti Kamat Dalal took an initiative of organizing a Programme on 19th March on topic ‘Cyber Laws and Cyber Crimes for students from various colleges across the state of Goa.  The Key note speaker of the session was Adv. Yulette Coutinho.

The Speaker notified the fact of rise in cyber crimes at an alarming rate not only in India but also across the globe. She gave various instances wherein the common man have been virtually assaulted by cyber criminals or most commonly known as the hackers. Various methods of hacking and cheating in the virtual world were explained; instances such as the recent ATM fraud which occurred at multiple ATM’s in Goa were discussed.

She spoke about the possible threats one may encounter over the internet and also how to tackle them. She also described various steps to be taken while surfing on the net. specific precautionary measures netizen is required to follow such as, how to secure oneself on the world wide web i.e. not disclosing personal information online, being vigilant and cautious while talking to new people/ strangers, securing ATM pins and other passwords, how to differentiate between the genuine and a fraudulent web page etc.

Information like procedure of filing a complaint and the location of the Cyber Crime Cell was communicated to the students. The session was informative and interactive.

The compere for the programme was Mr.Siddharth Sardesai. Mr.Rohit Shirodkar welcomed the guest with a floral bouquet. Ms Ketaki Deshpande introduced the guest and gave a brief report on the working of legal aid cells.

Mr. Sufiyan Sayed then presented the guest with a memento and Mr. Aniroodh Sardesai proposed Vote of Thanks.

We all live in the world of technology where any person can be targeted in a blink of an eye. The members of Mala Legal Aid Cell thought it proper to caution the most susceptible section of society i.e. student community who are more vulnerable to such crimes.