The Story of Chennai’s Criminologist

It was that time of the week. Prasanna walked into the book store with her parents. She ran past the popular magazine shelves where Femina, National Geographic and India Today were stacked. At the shop back, she rummaged through the children’s magazines until she got her hands on the latest edition of Detective.

“As a kid, I enjoyed reading crime and murder stories,” she gleams. Dr. Prasanna Gettu’s passion for criminology and the purpose of her NGO—International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC)—stemmed from her early childhood as an avid reader.

“Thirty-five years ago forensic psychology and the other forensic sciences were not available as a post-graduation course,” she recollects, “So I pursued criminology, which was a new course at the Madras University.”

The criminologist was completing her Ph.D. at the university when she was offered an opportunity to undertake a post-graduate diploma in Victimology at the Tokiwa University in Japan. Usharani Mohan and Hema Ramachandran were the only other Indians who were selected for the program in Japan. The trio from Chennai gained significant exposure by engaging with victims first-hand and observing how the country, society and organisations participate in the…