The Mahila court in Chennai awarded life imprisonment of at least 30 years without remission to Gnanasekaran, the convict in the Anna University student sexual assault case. Five months after the crime was committed in December 2024, Chennai Mahila court judge Rajalakshmi passed the verdict on May 28, finding him guilty on all the charges filed against him.
He has been sentenced to life Imprisonment for minimum period of 30 years without remission with a fine of Rs 25,000, for the crime committed under section 64(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) (punishment for rape). If he defaults on the fine, he will have to spend an additional 3 months in simple imprisonment.
“Without remission" means the convict must serve the full 30 years of life imprisonment without any reduction for good behavior or other leniencies.
The case history
The crime took place on the night of December 23, 2024, when a female student of Anna University was with her boyfriend on campus. Gnanasekaran trespassed into the university, sexually assaulted her, and held her against her will for 40 minutes. He filmed the couple and later used the footage to blackmail her.
The survivor reported the incident to a professor from the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) committee, and a police complaint was filed immediately. Gnanasekaran was soon arrested by the police on December 25.
Gnanasekaran, a known history-sheeter from Kotturpuram in Chennai, already has seven cases pending against him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Tamil Nadu government also invoked the stringent Goondas Act, enabling preventive detention without bail for up to a year.
Soon after his arrest, photographs of Gnanasekaran with ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionaries surfaced on social media, leading to political controversy. Though the DMK initially denied any affiliation, opposition parties circulated photographs showing Gnanasekaran purportedly holding a position within the party.
Subsequently, the Madras High Court ordered the formation of a special investigation team (SIT), who 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. 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.
