The Gujarat High Court has expressed shock over a fact-finding committee report submitted on Feb 28 over incidents of sexual harassment and homophobia on the campus of a renowned institute in Gandhinagar, the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU).

The HC took suo motu cognizance of news reports and social media posts that described the homophobia and sexual harassment of two students from GNLU last year.

The bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Aniruddha Mayee expressed shock at the report of the fact-checking committee headed by Justice (retired) Harsha Devani.

GNLU’s dark lanes shock HC 

“The report is really scary,” said Agarwal. Disappointed in the GNLU administration, she said that they are suppressing the incident and that these are not just two incidents.

The CJ Agarwal said that there are “incidents of molestation, rape, discrimination, homophobia, favouritism, suppression of voices, and a lack of an internal complaint committee.” 

Agarwal also expressed shock over the affidavit filed by the registrar that mentioned ‘nothing happened’ at the university.

The names of the accused have also come up through a secret survey of the fact-finding committee in the report.

“If the voices of law students are suppressed in the country, who will speak?” said Agarwal.

Political power behind menace?

In the fact-finding committee report, it is mentioned that a student has revealed that a politically influential person was involved in suppressing the case before the police. It also revealed that a student’s voice was suppressed after the intervention of the registrar of the GNLU and the warden of the girl’s hostel. 

“This needs a high inquiry into GNLU and its faculty,” said the chief justice.

The next hearing was scheduled for Mar 12, and CJ Agarwal has said that an action will be taken on the basis of this report.

In September 2023, the Gujarat high court took a suo moto cognizance over two incidents of harassment of students at the GNLU.

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