A lower court in Chennai has found Gnanasekaran guilty of the sexual assault of a student inside the Anna University campus in December lst year. Coming just five months after the crime, the verdict marks the conclusion of a high-profile case that sparked state-wide outrage. Chennai Mahila court judge Rajalakshmi passed the verdict on Wednesday, May 28, finding him guilty on all the 11 charges filed against him. The sentence will be pronounced on June 2.
On the night of December 23, 2024, a woman student of Anna University was sexually assaulted by Gnanasekaran while spending time on campus with her boyfriend. According to the police, Gnanasekaran held the student in illegal custody for 40 minutes, filmed her and her boyfriend, and then used the footage to blackmail her.
The survivor and a university professor from the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) committee filed a police complaint the same day. Gnanasekaran was arrested by the Greater Chennai Police on December 25.
The accused, a known history-sheeter from Kotturpuram in Chennai, already had seven cases pending against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). In this case, he was charged under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) provisions, including sections 63(a) and 64(1) for rape, and 75(1)(ii) and (iii) for sexual harassment.
The Tamil Nadu government also invoked the stringent Goondas Act, enabling preventive detention without bail for up to a year.
Photographs of Gnanasekaran with ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionaries surfaced soon after his arrest, leading to political controversy. Though the DMK initially denied any affiliation, opposition parties circulated photographs showing Gnanasekaran purportedly holding a position within the party.
The Madras High Court ordered the formation of a special investigation team (S) on December 28, consisting of senior IPS officers Bhukya Sneha Priya, Ayman Jamal, and S Brinda. The SIT submitted a detailed chargesheet to the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Saidapet on February 25 this year. The case was subsequently transferred to the Mahila Court in Allikulam.
The case also stirred controversy after the Tamil Nadu police uploaded the First Information Report (FIR) related to the assault on their public website, revealing sensitive identification details of the survivor. The breach was widely condemned by legal experts, activists, and the public, who criticised the authorities for failing to safeguard the survivor’s privacy.
Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun later attributed the leak to a technical glitch during the transition from the IPC to the BNS, stating that FIRs in sensitive cases are usually auto-locked in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS). A separate case was registered to investigate the source of the leak.