Alumni slam NLSIU for punishing students who raised harassment incident

At least 179 alumni of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) have criticised the premier institute's decision to charge two female students with “major misconduct” for flagging sexual harassment faced by a survivor allegedly at the hands of a male undergraduate student.

In an open letter, the alumni have expressed "deep disappointment" in the administration for the way it handled the incident.

"It has come to our knowledge that NLSIU initiated disciplinary proceedings against two female student facilitators appointed under its Code to Combat Sexual Harassment (SHARIC), for narrating a particular survivor’s experience of sexual harassment by a current student of NLSIU," the alumni stated.

According to the open letter, two facilitators narrated the incident over email and on a private Facebook group comprising students of the university. They did that "upon being requested to do so by the survivor" who is not an NLSIU student. "Notably, the question of a confidentiality breach does not arise, as there were no ongoing proceedings under the SHARIC code," the alumni pointed out.

"For their act of sharing details regarding an instance of sexual harassment, NLSIU found the student facilitators guilty of 'major misconduct' under its disciplinary rules (DARIC). As a penalty, it directed that they either issue a public apology or pay a significant monetary fine," they said.

Apparently, the student facilitators chose not to apologise and coughed up the fine.

"As alumni of NLSIU we commend the courageous and principled stance taken by the student facilitators. Further, we unequivocally condemn NLSIU's finding that student facilitators are guilty of major misconduct," the alumni wrote.

The NLSIU has been accused of barring student facilitators from sharing the order of the DARIC committee. "This means the proceedings are shrouded in secrecy and the principles of natural justice are not being followed, which is deeply unfair," they wrote.

The student accused of committing sexual harassment is in the fourth year. He was a CLAT topper.

"NLSIU must not attempt to silence the voice of survivors of sexual harassment and those who stand in solidarity with them," the alumni said.

Speaking to DH, the survivor said the development is "quite shocking". "It definitely has a very negative effect and impact on future survivors who wish to call out their perpetrators of any forms of harassment," the survivor said.

DH has asked the NLSIU administration for comments.

In a detailed statement, the NLSIU said it has a “strict zero tolerance policy” against sexual harassment and defended its action against the student facilitators.

“The open letter misrepresents the action taken by the university against the students as a failure to take sexual harassment seriously,” it said.

The student facilitators, according to NLSIU, received a correspondence from a person outside the university. “The facilitators then circulated an anonymous statement on behalf of the complainant, detailing the alleged abuse, naming the accused student, and disclosing sensitive personal information,” it said, adding this was a violation of its code.

“NLSIU has never prevented its students from discussing issues of sexual harassment. However, to use NLSIU digital resources to publicly name someone in a matter that would be prejudicial to that person’s reputation is not conducive…” it said.