Gujarat High Court shocked after report reveals sexual abuse, homophobia at GNLU

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday expressed its dismay at the “incidents of molestation, rape, discrimination, homophobia, favouritism, [and] suppression of voices” which have taken place at Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), Gandhinagar, according to a fact-finding committee’s report. It has directed that a competent authority must now consider the report.

The report, submitted in a sealed cover to the Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha P. Mayee, was described by the court as “really scary”.

The Bench is hearing a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) based on a newspaper article dated September 22, 2023.

According to the newspaper, a male student of GNLU had suffered mental trauma due to the harassment meted out to him because of his queer identity, while a female student had accused a batchmate of raping her.

The court had earlier directed the institute to reconstitute its fact-finding committee, set up to inquire into the alleged incidents.

The new committee was headed by Justice (retd) Harsha Devani of the Gujarat High Court.

One of the victims categorically stated that “a politically influential person” was trying to see to it that no police complaint was made.

The fact-finding report also mentions allegations against certain faculty members, the Registrar, and the Director of the institute, which needs a high-level inquiry, the Bench said.

An Instagram post about the alleged atrocities was forcibly removed through the intervention of GNLU and the faculty warden of the girls’ college, the court observed, noting that the institute had objected to the Instagram posts, which brought to light the ordeal faced by the two students, and had adopted an adversarial approach towards them.