OVER THE LAST THREE DAYS, students at Tamil Nadu National Law University (‘TNNLU’), based in Tiruchirapalli, have issued a public statement and organised a protest condemning remarks made by Vice Chancellor Prof. (Dr.) V. Nagaraj, in which he stated that female students wearing shorts "invites sexual harassment" and constitutes a "distraction" even for faculty members.
According to the students, the comments were made during an official Class Representatives Meeting held on April 15, 2026 in the presence of the Registrar, the Deans, the Faculty (Including the Chief Warden of the Women’s Hostel and the Coordinator of Legal Center for Women’s Welfare) and the Class Representatives.
The student community has unequivocally rejected these statements, asserting that, “the Vice Chancellor's statements across two institutions signals not an isolated lapse in judgment, but a pattern of institutional conduct that normalises harassment and burdens its victims.”
Even as students have continued to protest, highlighting the absence of a formal student council in the law school to negotiate with the administration, it has also been alleged that the administration has attempted to pressure students by calling their parents to disperse the protest.
