The Bombay High Court (HC) has upheld the expulsion of a student from Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) in Mumbai on Thursday, October 10. The student was found guilty of sexual harassment and had faced expulsion. It ordered the university to release the student's academic results on the completion of one year of community service. The student belongs to a prominent family from Nagpur.
The issue began on February 26–27, 2023, when a female student reported an incident of sexual harassment. She filed the complaint on March 1, 2023, to the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). After an investigation, the ICC confirmed the harassment and recommended the male student's expulsion on April 17, 2023. He had previously been involved in misbehaviour on campus, and this was not his first offence.
On June 17, 2023, MNLU's registrar issued an expulsion order. Dissatisfied with this, the student appealed the decision to the vice chancellor (VC). However, the VC dismissed his appeal on August 30, 2023. The VC did allow the student to sit for his final semester exams despite the dismissal. The student then took the case to the high court.
In the court, the student’s lawyers argued that an indefinite expulsion would permanently damage his academic career. They claimed he was not given a chance to cross-examine witnesses or the complainant during the ICC process. They also stated that the expulsion was overly harsh. The punishment would prevent the student from ever completing his BA LLB (Honours) program, which he began in 2019.
MNLU’s lawyer, Uday Warunjikar, defended the expulsion. He argued that the punishment was fair and necessary given the student’s repeated offenses. Warunjikar said any leniency would undermine accountability in serious misconduct cases.
The court reviewed the evidence and upheld the ICC's findings and the expulsion order. However, they decided to reduce the student’s expulsion to one academic year. They ordered the student to complete community service during the 2024–2025 academic year. Only after this, his results for the ninth and tenth semesters will be released.
The court believed the loss of one academic year was proportionate to his misconduct. The student will also not be able to pursue any academic activities during that year, making him fall behind his peers in the 2019–24 class.
Pooja Thorat and senior advocate Navroz Seervai, representing the survivor, strongly opposed the student’s claims. They pointed out that this was not his first offence and that his behaviour had not improved despite earlier disciplinary action. The current complaint reflected a pattern of ongoing misconduct.