The Gujarat High Court on May 1 disposed off the suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) regarding the homophobia and sexual harassment of two students from GNLU (Gujarat National Law University) last year.

The bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee disposed of the PIL, taking assurance from the GNLU authorities and state government that such instances would never happen again in the future.

The in-charge registrar of GNLU also apologised to the court. However, in his earlier statements in an affidavit, the in-charge registrar denied the reports of harassment at GNLU.

During the hearing of the case, the High Court questioned the state government about setting up and managing the internal committee of GNLU.

It was noted that the committee has only one male member, and the other student members are female.

The HC suggested that people of both genders should be equally included in the committee, as there can be complaints from male members as well.

The government clarified that this arrangement is temporary until the students are elected as per the rules.

The High Court also expressed concern that in such a large institution like GNLU, such incidents tarnish the image to a great extent and have a serious impact on the morale of the students. Therefore, for the proper management and administration of the institution, there is a need to change the director and other officials from time to time.

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