This Kolkata law university is introducing a Harry Potter course

Kolkata, Oct 26: It's a strange marriage between fiction and hard fact. The National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) in Kolkata has decided to offer a new course on law based on renowned author JK Rowling's Harry Potter series.

The course has been titled 'An interface between Fantasy Fiction Literature and Law: Special focus on Rowling's Potterverse', will be offered as an elective to the fourth and fifth year BA, LLB (Hons) programme students. The course has been designed by Shouvik Kumar Guha, an assistant professor who joked that he knows Potterverse better than the Company Law, Inuth.com reported.

"In law schools, people get a very specific set of subjects. The curriculum revolves around the hard letter of the law, case laws etc. Given the fact that this course lasts about five years, students also get bored." Guha was quoted as saying by PTI. The course is currently in an experimental mode.

Guha said he feels it is an imperative for the law students to adapt and respond to current occurrences considering the landmark judgments delivered by the Supreme Court of India in recent times. He, therefore, decided to build a course around a popular Potterverse where people are constantly under the government's scrutiny.

"In the Harry Potter series, The Ministry of Magic persecutes students at Hogwarts for speaking the truth and even conducts illicit executions. The prison of Azkaban also offers inmates no reform while the wealthy continue to sway the government to their benefit. Additionally, the newspaper 'The Daily Prophet' furthers propaganda. highlighting the need for press freedom," the Inuth article said.

"Such instances from the books expose the limitations of the law and institutions, reads a statement by the NUJS. The course will help students draw comparisons between failings of the wizarding world and our own government."

In 2012, the Jindal Global Law School in Sonepat also offered a similar elective course designed around the Harry Potter books and it was created by Rashmi Raman, who is an NUJS alumnus.