Jail bird pursuing journalism course

Mysore, Apr 10 (UNI) That the hunger for education cannot be suppressed by circumstantial trappings has been proved by a jail bird, serving life sentence for murdering her husband.

Padmavathi Guttedar, undergoing life sentence in a Bangalore prison for masterminding the murder of her husband Ashok Guttedar, along with her lover Subash Patil, in 1993, had taken up MA (Mass Communications) course of the Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) here.

She was in the city for the five-day contact programme as part of the course.

Talking to reporters at the KSOU campus here, Padmavathi, who was critical of the media for her plight, said ''I took up journalism to voice my true feelings and teach a lesson to the media persons who are experts in distorting news.'' A B.Com drop out, she said she had chosen the profession to help out those languishing in jail after injustice was meted out to them.

Stating that Subash was a great source of inspiration, she said he had always motivated her by saying that she had all the qualities essential for becoming a journalist like grit, determination and straight forwardness.

Subash too had given up his medical education and wanted to pursue journalism to ''bring out the truth of their lives and be a source of inspiration for such aggrieved people.'' The duo had completed four years in jail.

UNI