TNNLU students to protest against VC Prof V Nagaraj's remarks on women wearing shorts

Students of Tamil Nadu National Law University (TNNLU) have issued a public condemnation against Vice-Chancellor Prof (Dr) V Nagaraj's comments on women students wearing shorts on campus.

"During an official Class Representatives Meeting, Vice-Chancellor Prof (Dr) V Nagaraj stated that women students wearing shorts "invites sexual harassment" and constitutes a "distraction" even for faculty members. Notably, he also expressed that he is "very proud" of similar remarks he previously made during the widely reported NLSIU controversy, offering no retraction or regret for that prior conduct," reads the statement.

A protest will be held on April 16 at 4:15 PM, where students will demand for a public apology from the Vice-Chancellor.

Another demand they will push for is the formation of a Student Body Association (SBA).

"TNNLU had a SBA previously in 2018-2019 around that period, after that administration has outright denied SBA whenever it was brought up," a student told Bar & Bench.

TNNLU Registrar Prof (Dr) SM Balakrishnan told Bar & Bench that the Vice-Chancellor was only recalling the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) incident where he had spoken about female students wearing shorts.

He said that the students have taken the Vice-Chancellor's words out of context and have misunderstood him.

Prof Balakrishnan doubted whether the protest will take place and said that the VC would not address the students.

In 2016, Prof Nagaraj, then a faculty member at NLSIU, faced backlash from students when he had made sexist remarks against a female student for wearing shorts to his class.