Dr. A. Vijayalakshmi, a dedicated professor and one of the directors in the School of Excellence in Law in Perungudi, Chennai was born to (late) Arumainathan, who worked for the Income Tax Department and Arockiamary Esther, a Nursing Superintendent at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital. She was born and brought up in the fertile delta region of Thanjavur.
She did her schooling at St. Joseph’s Girls Higher Secondary School in Thanjavur and was motivated to take up law by her mother. During the course of her employment, her mother was impressed by a lady district judge who used to visit the hospital to record dying declarations of victims who suffered burn injuries particularly in dowry harassment cases. On seeing how dedicated and committed the judge was to punish perpetrators of crime and to get justice for innocent victims, she was inspired to make her daughter study law. Moreover, Vijayalakshmi hated Maths, so law was an ideal choice.
In tune with her mother’s inspiration, after her higher secondary education, Vijayalakshmi joined the Government Law College in Trichy to do B.A.B.L. and later pursued her Master’s degree at the Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College in Chennai where she specialized in Crime and Tort. She followed it up with a PhD in the Elementary Aspects of International Crimes at the Dr. Ambedkar Law University Chennai.
Vijayalakshmi is married to Nelsonraj who is employed at a Malaysian company and they have a son Derrik William who studies in class 12 in DB, Egmore.
She has one sibling- a younger brother who is married and blessed with a couple of children.
Initially, Vijayalakshmi was not interested in practising law but whilst pursuing her Master’s degree, the classes were from 4 to 6 pm, she had lot of free time on her hands. She decided to make best use of this time to gain practical experience and joined the office of Advocate Swamidoss Manoharan, a criminal side practitioner. The experience that she gained at this office helps her till date when she takes classes for students. She says ‘’A combination of theoretical and practical experience makes my students attend my classes with interest.’’
After completing her education and clearing the UGC- NET exam, she joined School of Excellence in Law as a guest faculty. Her services were later regularized as Assistant Professor of Criminal Law. She then rose to the position of the Director for B.Com LL.B (Hons) degree programme.
Dr.Vijayalakshmi is also a nodal officer for NAAN MUDHALVAN Scheme. She earlier served as coordinator in the placement committee, as a coordinator for the cultural association, as faculty advisor for Indian Student Law Review, as a deputy warden for the girls’ hostel and as the chairperson for law admissions for two consecutive years.
She has published several research articles and papers and has been invited by several colleges and universities to deliver special lectures. She is also a guest lecturer in many colleges.
She has been an external examiner for TNPSC, TNUSRB, TRB, Madras University, Pondicherry University, Saveetha School of Law and SRM School of Law.
She is credited with organizing many seminars, webinars and workshops on Criminal Law, POSH Act, Research Methodology, Art of Advocacy, Cyber Crimes etc.
Dr. Vijayalakshmi recently published her first book titled ‘’International Criminal Law: A Jurisprudential Perspective’’ where she focuses on the progressive development of International Criminal Law, International crimes like genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity etc. She covers the International Criminal Courts and its organs and is hopeful that it will serve as a useful guiding material to students who take up International Law, Criminal Law and Human Rights
Being a die-hard fan of Illayaraja, she unwinds after a long day at work by listening to his songs. She enjoys watching crime thrillers and feel good movies which are mostly in Malayalam. Her favourite actor is Superstar Rajinikanth.
A voracious reader, she catches up with articles related to International Human Rights. Her preferred authors include Prof Dr. Rafael Lemkin, Dr. Bassiouni and Dr. Alison Des Forges. When it comes to Tamil literature, she has completed the novel Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki.
Cricketer M S Dhoni is her favorite sportsperson for his sportsmanship and leadership qualities. Footballer Messi is another sportsperson she holds in high esteem due to his humane personality.
When it comes to food, her tastebuds are tickled by spicy biriyani but she also likes bland food items like rasam and the humble curd rice.
When asked about the difference in students of her time and the students of today, she quips that there are drastic changes and finds that some of them are in an imaginary world and that measures are being taken to pull them back into reality.
She hopes that the media can help with enhancing the quality of education. In her opinion, two measures that can streamline and transform the younger generation are to instill book reading culture in students and to inculcate in them respect for fellow human beings.
Juliana Sridhar is a lawyer and columnist
