Expulsion Forever Will Lead To 'Academic Death': Bombay High Court Grants Relief To Law Student Accused In Multiple Sexual Harassment Cases

While disposing of a plea filed by a final year law student of the Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) challenging the decision of the varsity to expel him from the institution after he was found guilty of 'repeated' sexual harassment of girls by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), the Bombay High Court on Thursday said that the student's expulsion for an 'unspecified' period would result in his 'academic death.'

A division bench of Justices Atul Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil opined that remanding the dispute back to the Vice Chancellor of the MNLU, would lead to a third round of litigation (the instant one being the second round), and thus, the petitioner student and also the complainant girl, both should not be subjected to any further distractions from their academic activities.

"In our view, an order of expulsion for an indefinite and unspecified period would be harsh resulting in 'academic death' of 'X' (petitioner). It would result in taking away the education and training undergone since his admission to the course in 2019-20. In effect, he would never be able to complete the BA. LLB (Honours) course at the MNLU in future. The consequence of such expulsion would operate perpetually having a drastic effect on a student's academic life. All this would also result in deprivation and denial of education. In our view, the consequences flowing from an order of expulsion for an indefinite and unspecified period are drastic and harsh," the bench observed.

The bench noted that even after expelling the petitioner, the Vice-Chancellor has permitted him to appear for the ninth and tenth semester exams but has withheld his results for the outcome of the instant proceedings.

"In normal course, 'X' would have completed his BA.LLB (Honours) course at the end of academic session 2023-24. That has not happened as his results for the last two semesters have not been declared," the bench noted, while restricting the expulsion orders for one academic year.

It further imposed 'community service' penalty on the petitioner for the entire 2024 to 2025 academic year under the guidance of the VC, who upon completing of community service, has been ordered to declare the petitioner's results.

"This would result in 'X' suffering the punishment of expulsion for one academic year and also undertaking community services till the end of the current academic year. Loss of an academic year in these facts would, in our view, be proportionate to the misconduct of 'X'. It would put him behind his entire batch of 2019-24 by one year and during that period he would be unable to take up any other academic activity. This approach may not be construed as an outcome of an exercise in equity but an exercise of applying the doctrine of proportionality considering the indefinite period of expulsion," the judges reasoned.

The petitioner through senior advocate Mihir Desai had challenged the June 21, 2024 order of the MNLU Vice Chancellor (VC) expelling him from the varsity based on sexual harassment findings of the ICC. The petitioner, is allegedly a 'repeated' sexual harasser as he has been accused of sexual harassing multiple girls of the varsity within a span of two years.

In his plea, the petitioner student contended that he has an excellent academic record. He argued that the entire enquiry process (in this second 'official' sexual harassment instance) was 'flawed, biased and violated the principles of natural justice.' He further contended that the alleged incident took place outside the university premises at an 'unofficial' gathering and thus the ICC or the university had no 'jurisdiction' to deal with the complaint. It was argued that such a penalty would become a 'death penalty' for the petitioner.

Appearing for the complainant girl, senior counsel Navroz Seervai assisted by advocate Pooja Thorat, highlighted the fact that the petitioner is a 'repeat offender' and has 'harassed multiple girls' within a span of two years. The senior advocate pointed out that even in 2022, the petitioner faced an enquiry by the ICC on another complaint filed by a different girl, who was also sexually harassed by the petitioner. The report of the first incident states that a young woman, who was harassed sexually by the petitioner, was 'so much traumatised' that she herself could not gather courage to lodge an official complaint against him.

The judges, therefore, on the principle of proportionality, upheld the expulsion for only for one academic year as against the 'indefinite' time period imposed by the varsity.

Further, the bench ordered the MNLU to consider the recommendation made by the ICC in its May 20, 2023 report with regards to the venue of events such as in the instant proceedings, where it was noted that a moot-court competition was hosted in a private lounge-cum-bar.

"The Vice Chancellor is requested to consider the recommendations made by the ICC in its report dated 20/05/2023 in the matter of selection of a venue for such activities of the MNLU as well as undertaking due diligence that no alcohol is served at dinners held on such occasions and take remedial steps in the larger interest of the MNLU, its staff as well as its students," the 49-page order states.

Appearance:

Senior Advocate Mihir Desai along with Advocates Abhijit Desai, Karan Gajra, Mohini Rehpade, Daksha Punghera, Vijay Singh, Sachita Sontakke, Digvijay Kachare and Abhishek Ingale instructed by Desai Legal, appeared for the Petitioner.

Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai along with Advocates Gulnar Mistry, Pooja Thorat, Amar Bodake, Trisha Choudhary and Madhav Thorat represented the Complainant Girl.

Advocates Dr. Uday Warunjikar, Jenish Jain, Dattaram Bile and Aditya Kharkar represented the MNLU.

Case Title: X vs Maharashtra National Law University [Writ Petition (Lodging) NO.21030 OF 2024]

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