President tells law students to become change agents

Hyderabad: President Droupadi Murmu called the younger generation of legal professionals to be the change agents to uphold the constitutional ideas set out in the freedom struggle: justice, liberty, equality and fraternity.

Delivering the 21st Convocation address at the NALSAR University of Law, on Saturday, she stressed the dispensation of justice to marginalised communities and the inaccessibility of justice to the poor. She said the situation should change. The young legal professionals should lead the change, she added.

Appreciating the NALSAR addressing the issues of disability, access to justice, prison and juvenile justice, and legal aid, the President lauded the NALSAR for setting up an Animal Law Centre. She said that it reminded her tenure as the Minister for the Department of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development in Odisha nearly twenty years ago. “I realised that there must be widespread efforts to sensitise people about the protection and welfare of animals,” she said. "She asked the younger generations to protect animals and birds, trees and water bodies as necessities for the well-being of humanity. NALSAR’s Animal Law Centre is a good step in that direction,” she said.

On the University's focus on Artificial Intelligence, she said that jurists and judges are seized of consulting with algorithms for evaluating parties in a dispute in the current global legal scenario. Murmu said that future legal professionals should prepare to deal with technology-induced rapid changes by using technology as a tool for professional advancement and as a means for social justice.

“Democratic traditions and practices of ancient India were highlighted by Dr B R Ambedkar in his concluding speech at the Constituent Assembly," Murmu said.

She asked youth law graduates joining the legal profession as advocates or in the corporate world to give their advice in line with high ethical standards. "Whatever role you choose as a legal professional, always stick to the values of integrity and courage. Speaking truth to power makes you more powerful," she said. Murmu appreciated the female students outnumbering boys as medal winners.

The President urged NALSAR, its alumni and all the stakeholders to set up a nationwide network of women advocates and law students to make concerted efforts to prevent atrocities against women and deal with cases of such atrocities. State Governor Jishnu Dev Varma, CM Revanth Reddy, Supreme Court Judge, Justice PS Narasimha and Telangana High Court Chief Justice and NALSAR University of Law Chancellor, Justice Alok Aradeh, Vice-Chancellor Srikrishna Devaraya Rao were present.