Forensis Forum Events

The Post Graduate Department of Criminology and Forensic science had organised a week-long educational tour to Trivandrum, Kerala for both the first and second year students of the department from 4th December 2022 to 11th December 2022. Dr. Sarita D’Souza, Head of the department and Assistant Professors Mr. Roshan D’Souza, Mr. Joel Joseph and Mr. Niketh P. S. accompanied the students.

The first visit was to Police Training Academy, Trivandrum on 5th December 2022 at 10 am. The Principal of the academy Mr. Abdul Kader, Superintendent of Police and Vice Principal Mr. Anil Sreenivas, Deputy Superintendent of Police interacted with the faculties and students of the department. Mr. Abdul explained about the academy and the various training provided. The Police Training Academy was established in 1882. They have various indoor and outdoor training along with computer laboratory, library and conference hall facilities. The basic training involves physical exercise, parade practices, indoor training and outdoor training. Various courses sponsored by the Institute of Management are also conducted in the academy. Further, he explained about the structure of police in Kerala and the 3-tier recruitment system. Mr. Anil spoke about the experience he had during his training days. He said that a police officer should be normal in abnormal situations. Dr. Saritha addressed the gathering and thanked the Principal and Vice Principal for providing permission for the visit. Lastly, students visited the Library, Armoury division and Cyber Crime Police Station.

The second visit was to Santhimandiram, Psycho Social Rehabilitation Centre, Thiruvananthapuram on 6th December 2022 at 3 pm. Mr. Santhosh, head of the centre addressed the students regarding the functions of the centre. He said that psychologically challenged people stay in the centre and also people from general hospitals, who cannot return home after the treatment stay in the centre. He also said that 8 to 10 people returned home after the treatment. On certain days people come to visit them, conduct programs and interact with them. The centre provides food and coffee to the people on the streets, he also said that they are planning to bring chapathi maker so that they can distribute chapathi to the people. The students had organised cultural activities which consisted of three group dances and two group songs. The students were also given the opportunity to interact with the members. Lastly, some members exhibited their talents.

The third visit was to the District Child Protection Unit (DCPU), Trivandrum on 7th December 2022. Two separate sessions were conducted for the first and second year students. The session for second year students was conducted at 10 am by Ms. Kiren. She spoke about Mission Vasalya – Protection of Child and Child Rights. The DCPU comes under the Ministry of Women and Child Development and began its function in 2014. A DCPU is present in every district which is headed by the District Collector. The DCPU consists of a District Child Protection Officer who looks after the administrative functions and 15 other staffs. They function according to the Juvenile Justice Act 2015 that has 2 category of children: Child in Need of Care and Protection and Child in Conflict with Law. She also spoke about the age of the child, Child Welfare Committee, Juvenile Justice Board, administrative structure of the DCPU. She then explained the two main projects under DCPU: Sharana Balya project and ORC (Our Responsibility to Child) project along with other projects such as Kavel Project, Kavel plus project, awareness programs, Ashwasa Nidhi Scheme, Bala nidhi scheme, District Resource centre and parenting clinic.

The first year students visited DCPU at 2.30 p.m. The Legal cum Probation officer along with Counsellor of the District Child Protection Unit explained the structure and function of the unit. The main aim of this unit is Protection, Prevention, Prosecution. They also told that their unit consisted of 15 staffs such as District child protection officer, Institutional care taker, Non institutional care taker, Legal cum probation officer, 2 Social worker, 2 Outreach worker, 1 Counsellor, Data analyst, Data entry operator, Accountant, Rescue officer, Our responsibility to children psychologist, Our responsibility to children project coordinator. Further, they highlighted the projects of DCPU such as Kaval project, Kaval plus, Sharanabalyam and Balanidhi project. At the end there was a question and answer session where the students cleared their doubts regarding the function of the unit, job opportunities in this field and the method of recruitment.

The next visit was to Poojapuram Central Jail, Trivandrum on 8th December 2022. The Deputy Prison Officer Mr. K. S Jitendra Krishna gave the students a tour of the jail from the Central watch tower which gave a bird’s eye view of the jail. He mentioned that this jail was established in 1886 and is the oldest prison. It has a capacity of 927 inmates however it currently accommodates 1400 inmates. The inmates get a job on the basis of their profession and are also given wages. It consists of 12 blocks and each block has 4 barracks for the stay of inmates. It also consists of an interview hall, hospital, canteen and library. The students also got to visit the death penalty gallows and were explained about the procedure of hanging. This was followed by an interactive session with the Superintendent of the prison Mr. Satyaraj. He spoke about the history of the prison, various staff employed, the routine of the inmates and various other facilities and programs for the inmates. He stated that the jail has 4 main objectives: correction, care and treatment, reformation and rehabilitation. He also explained the hierarchy of prison officers. Lastly, the students asked queries they had regarding the prison and it's functioning.

On 9th December 2022 at 10.30 am, the students got an opportunity to visit the Juvenile Justice Board (JJ Board), Thiruvananthapuram. The officials explained about the structure of the JJ Board which consists of the Ministry of Women and child development, District judge, First class in-service magistrate, 2 Social workers. The students learnt about functions of the JJ Board such as Ensuring, Directing, Providing, Inspecting, Conducting, Adjudicating, Transfer the case. Principles of the JJ Board such as Principle of dignity and work of the child, Principle of participation, Principle for best interest of the child, Principle of family responses, Principle of safety, Principle of equality and non-discrimination, Principle of institution as last resource, Principle of fresh start, Principle of diversion, Principle of natural justice and others were also briefly explained to the students. There was an opportunity for the students to interact with the children present in the observation home.

The last visit was to Red Team Hackers Academy, Thampanoor at 2.30 pm. Mr. Vishnu, Junior Cyber security instructor took the session for First year students. The students were briefed about Cyber security, types of Cyber attacks such as Web-based attacks, System based attacks, Network based attacks. He explained each of the attacks by giving examples. He briefly explained about ethical hacking and also the types of hack such as black hat, white hat and grey hat, other types of hackers like script kiddies, green hat, blue hat hackers, social media hackers, hacktivist and malicious insiders /whistle blowers. Then the students were also briefed about the courses offered by the academy and certificates of participation were also distributed to the students.

The session for second year students was taken by Mr. Inzamam Nizam. He spoke about who is a hacker and the difference between hackers and attackers. He explained basic terms like remote access tool, trojan, brute force, DoS and DDoS, phishing, pharming, vulnerability, threat, risk, payload, doxing, CIA triad and types of hackers. He then explained information security and cyber security with demonstration. The five phases of ethical hacking are reconnaissance, scanning and enumeration, gaining access, maintaining access and covering tracks. He also spoke about the various courses offered by the academy and lastly the students were given a certificate of participation.

The students in between the educational tour got to visit other Historical places such as church, palace, temple, Museum, Park, beach, Zoo etc., the students expressed that the visit was helpful to know the functioning of various organizations practically, got an opportunity to learn through field visits, relax, recreate and to spend time with each other with co-curriculum activities. Altogether, 40 students and 4 faculties of the department were part of the academic tour.