First-year female students of Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU) Nagpur, currently accommodated at an off-campus hostel in Dongargaon, have raised serious concerns over safety and living conditions. Despite assurances of being shifted to on-campus housing, students allege continued exposure to eve-teasing, lack of privacy, and health risks. These concerns have reportedly been communicated to the university administration through a series of emails.
Despite paying ₹3.65 lakh per annum for residential facilities, students say they are forced to endure substandard living conditions at the off-campus hostel. During a recent Open House session between students and the university administration, officials reportedly cited a delay in the release of funds by the State government as the reason for the incomplete on-campus hostel infrastructure.
Vice-Chancellor Prof Vijender Kumar accompanied the warden to the off-campus hostel to pacify students who complained of the lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity and Wi-Fi.
A Search Committee has been constituted and tasked with identifying alternative off-campus hostel accommodation. However, no specific timeline has been provided regarding when the relocation will take place or when on-campus construction will commence.
With less than two weeks remaining before end-semester examinations, concerns are mounting among students that the hostel accommodation issue will once again be pushed to the next academic session. There is growing apprehension that the incoming 2025–29 batch will face the same challenges.
The matter has been under discussion for the past three years, first raised by the 2022–27 batch and then again by the 2023–28 cohort. In response, the university had introduced a lottery-based system to shift students to on-campus hostels in phases.
However, due to a lower number of male students—most of whom have already been allotted on-campus rooms—the ongoing accommodation crisis has disproportionately impacted female students.
Repeated attempts to reach the MNLU Nagpur administration for a comment went unanswered at the time of publishing.