Source : Times of India
KOLKATA: The National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) has decided to offer students very real lessons on the law and jurisprudence based on the very fictional but popular world of Harry Potter, starting from the next semester beginning December.
The optional course — designed by faculty member Shouvik Kumar Guha, and christened ‘An interface between Fantasy Fiction Literature and Law: Special focus on Rowling’s Potterverse’ — is meant for fourth and fifth year
students. It has been designed to give the students an opportunity to apply legal yardsticks in a fantasy world situation.
It would also provide opportunities of endless debate as to whether due process of law is followed in the Potter universe and improve law students’ critical thinking as they will apply legal principles in a completely new scenario.
The 45-hour course that starts this December will end by mid-April, during which students will explore legal aspects of J K Rowling’s fictional universe and be encouraged to draw parallels in what they see around them in the real world. Naturally, this has caused a rush, but there are just 40 seats.
The only prerequisite for applying is that one should have read all the Potter books. The course will have a 100-mark paper.”Most of our courses are tough. We thought of giving students a breather so that they find time to do some original thinking,” said Guha. “We are going through a time when the judiciary is regularly giving path-breaking judgments and we often see it superseding the executive and legislature. I hope the new course will broaden the vistas of our future law-keepers, in that context.”
