We want LI to be one of the friendliest places on the internet, where lawyers and law students help each other with their career related queries and occasionally discuss other stuff that might affect their lives too. In other words:
1. Be kind, respectful and helpful to each other.
2. Be bona fide, truthful, genuine and curious.
3. Assume the best intention of others.
Therefore, in using the site, you must agree to do your best to uphold these community guidelines.
Note that what you find here is written and moderated by anonymous people on the internet.
Therefore everything you read here is very likely unverified, rumour, speculation and/or downright false.
In continuing to read anything here, you must therefore agree not to take anything you read here as factual and that you will exercise due caution, diligence and common sense before acting on any information you may come across here.
You also agree to report any inaccurate or malicious comments with the buttons. Moderators take action within 24 hours, as required and appropriate under law.
Our full terms and conditions apply too.
Do you solemnly agree to all of the above?
Quote: Because it was of greater advantage to her client's case and winning in appeal to make the media continue to spin their narrative?
[quote]
Open Letter from Concerned Alumni to the NLSIU Administration
As alumni of National Law School of India University, Bangalore (NLSIU), we wish to express our deep disappointment in how the administration has handled recent events relating to sexual assault by a member of the University and punished SHARIC facilitators for aiding the victim.
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. The student facilitators decided not to apologise as that may have had the effect of stifling the voices of any peers who wished to share their own stories of sexual harassment or violence at the hands of other students in NLSIU. Instead, they chose to pay the monetary fine imposed upon them. They were also removed from all positions of responsibility, including their positions as student facilitators under NLSIU’s SHARIC Code.
As alumni of NLSIU, we commend the courageous and principled stance taken by the student facilitators. Further, we unequivocally condemn NLSIU’s finding that the student facilitators are guilty of “major misconduct”. It has also come to our attention that the student facilitators have been barred from sharing the order of the DARIC committee, so we are unable to even peruse the logic and reasoning of the committee. This means that the proceedings are shrouded in secrecy, and the principles of natural justice are not being followed, which is deeply unfair.
The University, much like the society it is a part of, has witnessed grave instances of sexual violence in the past. It is well known that victims of sexual harassment (who are most often women) find it difficult to speak about their experiences, or take formal or legal action against the perpetrator. NLSIU ought not to perpetuate those difficulties or prevent survivors from sharing their experiences with the NLSIU community. More importantly, NLSIU must not punish student facilitators acting at the request of, or on behalf of survivors of sexual harassment, as this amounts to “victimization” as per the definition in NLSIU’s own SHARIC Code. A decision such as the current one will undoubtedly have a chilling effect on the voices of other survivors, present and future, and signal to them that NLSIU wishes for them to remain silent in the face of sexual and gender-based violence.
Further, we note that the #MeToo movement swept across the NLSIU campus in 2018, and dozens of victims of sexual harassment (who were largely women) shared their experiences over internal email, as well as on the same Facebook group where details regarding the present instance were posted. If NLSIU’s decision in the instant case were to be applied evenly, it is likely that those dozens of students would similarly be found guilty of “major misconduct” under the University’s rules. It bears emphasizing once again that no student ought to be punished for speaking about sexual harassment and violence, as well as those who perpetrate it.
NLSIU must not attempt to silence the voices of survivors of sexual harassment and those who stand in solidarity with them. Contrary to the current outcome, universities ought to encourage survivors to access redressal systems and provide them with any and all support required to do so. We emphasize that this is every university’s obligation under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and NLSIU must make every effort to comply with the law, in both letter and spirit.
In light of the above, the undersigned concerned alumni call upon NLSIU to: 1. Make the DARIC Committee’s order public, with redaction of names and other details where appropriate. 2. Reverse the finding that the student facilitators in question are guilty of “major misconduct”. 3. Reconsider its decision on survivors sharing personal accounts of sexual violence, the acts of which would themselves attract penalties under NLSIU’s Code to Combat Sexual Harassment. 4. Implement the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 in both letter and spirit. 5. Refrain from punishing and penalizing survivors of sexual harassment and those who stand by them.
Sincerely, [...]
[/quote]