Anna University sexual assault case: Mahila Court convicts lone accused Gnanasekar

Anna University sexually assault case: lone accused Gnanasekar, 37, being escorted out after being convicted by the Mahila Court on the Madras High Court campus on Wednesday | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

Pronouncing the verdict in the case involving the sexual assault of a student from Anna University in December 2024, the Mahila Court in Chennai on Wednesday (May 28, 2025) convicted the lone accused, Gnanasekar, 37, after finding him guilty of the offences he was charged with. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on June 2.

Earlier on Wednesday, Gnanasekar was brought in a police van from the Central Prison, Puzhal, amidst tight security to the Madras High Court campus, where the trial court is located. He was produced before Mahila Court judge M. Rajalakshmi.

The judge read out the judgment, holding him guilty of offences he was charged under 11 sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Information Technology Act, and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act. The judge said the quantum of punishment would be pronounced on June 2.

Prosecution’s case

The prosecution said the incident occurred on December 23, 2024, when the survivor, a 19-year-old student, and her friend were out on the Anna University campus.

Gnanasekar lived with his family at Kottur and and ran a roadside biryani outlet on the service road near Adyar Bridge. He was already involved in several criminal activities.

At 7.10 p.m. on December 23, 2024, he entered Anna University via the Madras University campus, and set his mobile phone on flight mode. While getting in, he pretended to speak to someone over the phone, though there was evidence that the device was already on flight mode.

At 7.45 pm, he spotted the student and her friend seated on the stairs of a building on the campus. Gnanasekar hit her friend on the head and snatched the woman’s identity card. He threatened the duo, saying he had shot a video of them and that he would show it to the dean, warden, and other staff members of the university. He also threatened to get the authorities to issue a transfer certificate based on the video.

As they pleaded with him to leave them alone, he asked the woman to stay where she was and took her friend aside. Afew minutes later, he returned and told her that her friend had been caught by the university staff. He then asked her to leave her phone on flight mode, took her to a secluded spot, and sexually assualted her. He also videographed the incident on his phone, according to the chargesheet.

The Madras High Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising women officers, had probed the sexual assault case, which had sparked massive outrage in the State, and had named history-sheeter Gnanasekar as the lone accused.

Gnanasekar was charged under 11 provisions of the law, including Sections 331(6) (lurking trespass by night), 126(2) (wrongfully restraining any person), 140(4) (kidnapping in order to subject a person to grievous hurt), 75(2) (sexual harassment) read with 64(1) (rape), among other provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Information Technolgy Act, and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act.

Published - May 28, 2025 11:44 am IST