Reformed convict, now a Gandhian

MYSORE:  The students of JSS Law College in city had an unusual guest addressing them on Thursday. Laxman Tukaram Gole who had spent over seven years in jail over several charges of extortion and murder attempts, and later got reformed after reading Mahatma Gandhi’s biography “My experiments with truth” gave an inspiring talk on his journey from a hardcore criminal to a Gandhian practitioner.“I was moving deep into darkness learning nuances of committing different crimes from chain snatching to attempted murder before I was struck by Gandhi’s biography,” Gole said.The  five-feet tall Gole went on to say how he accidentally got into the world of crime and his experiences in various prisons of Maharashtra. “It was in the spur of the moment that I stabbed a goon on his face and stomach, provoked by his misbehaving with a girl. That was when I was sixteen. But the police instead of sending me to juvenile home dumped me in jail by furnishing fake documents to prove that I am eighteen,” he said.He said in jail he was brainwashed by criminals who lured him into the world of crime. They funded his expenses in jail, as a bait for him to be of use to them in their crimes. He came out of jail, only to be rapped by the criminals, distanced by his friends and relatives. Due to his crime record the jail became his second home.Gole said, ultimately the day came which made all the difference. He was handed over a Marathi translation of Gandhi’s autobiography by the Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal. “I just went through the first few pages and found it very interesting. I read it for the whole night and finished it,” he said.