KANNIYAKUMARI: Former Manonmaniam Sundaranar University Vice Chancellor K Chockalingam of Kanniyakumari has been selected for the prestigious World Society of Victimology's (WSV) highest honour, the Hans Von Hentig Award. He is the first Indian and Asian scholar to receive the award.
President of the WSV Janice Joseph announced that the award is being conferred for his outstanding leadership and contributions to the field of victimology. Chockalingam would be conferred with the award at the National Forensic Science University at Gandhinagar in Gujarat during the 18th WSV International Symposium in September. Since 1982, once every three years, the WSV confers the honour to a distinguished scholar who has made significant contributions to victimology.
Chockalingam hails from Ganapathipuram in Kanniyakumari and completed his school and college education there. He is currently professor emeritus in victimology at the R V University in Bengaluru. He has received international and national awards for his contribution to progressive policies and programmes for crime victims. He has more than 50 years of teaching and research experience at prestigious institutions including the University of Madras as the criminology department head, at Tokiwa University in Japan, and later at the National Law University in Delhi in the fields of criminology, criminal law, and victimology.
While speaking to TNIE, Chockalingam said, "I have directed eight research projects, of which many have led the government to take action. In my research on problems faced by women using public transport in Chennai, I found that 63% of women between the ages of 15 and 35 have been sexually harassed, following which the government came up with 'women only' buses in 1992." He was instrumental in preparing a draft bill on assistance to victims of crime as president of the Indian Society of Victimology. Former MS University's Criminology Department Head and Professor Beulah Shekhar said that Chockalingam had introduced the concept of victimology in police training in Tamil Nadu, which was later followed in other states.