Matua Kahurangi
Just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes.
While most New Zealanders would expect convicted sex offenders to be removed from institutions of higher learning, not handed diplomas, the University of Otago apparently sees things differently. The university allowed Gaurav Jeevan Rauniyar, a 30-year-old convicted of upskirting and hoarding child sex abuse material, to continue studying and even graduate after being sentenced for his vile crimes.
Rauniyar’s collection of child pornography was described by a judge as a “trophy cabinet” and included videos involving bestiality and children as young as four. He admitted to secretly filming up the skirts of girls in Dunedin stores using a hidden camera app, offending that began in early 2023. But somehow, he was still welcomed through the university gates.
Why? According to student services director Claire Gallop, Rauniyar did not pose a “credible and unmanageable risk” to others. That is the low bar Otago now sets under its new vice chancellor, none other than former Labour finance minister Grant Robertson. With his political legacy of leniency and soft-on-crime ideology, this kind of institutional cowardice comes as no surprise.
The university did not just turn a blind eye. Proctor Dave Scott even wrote to the court in support of Rauniyar, lauding his academic performance and claiming he had not caused any other problems while on campus. Apparently being a convicted sex offender with a digital stash of child rape does not count.
While Rauniyar was appealing his sentence and awaiting jail time, the university let him finish his thesis, attend graduation, and receive his postgraduate diploma in food science. Only after walking the stage in May did he check himself into Otago Corrections Facility.
Gallop claimed the university imposed “internal requirements and restrictions” on Rauniyar, as if that should reassure anyone. What sort of safeguards can possibly justify allowing a man with a proven appetite for child exploitation and public sexual harassment to roam freely among female students?
Even more outrageous, his original home detention was served at a property that bordered a primary school. That alone should be a scandal. How on earth does a man convicted of possessing child sex abuse material end up living next to young children while supposedly being punished? Parents should have been alerted by Corrections.
Victims advocate Ruth Money hit the nail on the head. Education institutions must stop prioritising offenders over public safety. Yet Otago’s leadership seems far more interested in protecting rapists’ rights than protecting students.
This is a university where the safety of young women apparently plays second fiddle to academic performance. Where a child predator can be treated with dignity and respect, while survivors are treated as an afterthought. Where being “successful in your studies” excuses a digital library of child torture.
The public deserves answers. What is Rauniyar’s immigration status? Is he a citizen, permanent resident, or here on a visa? If he is not a citizen, why has he not been deported?
Under the failed moral leadership of Grant Robertson, Otago has lost its way. A prestigious New Zealand university is now complicit in enabling sexual predators to quietly finish their degrees while justice drags its feet.
There must be accountability. For Rauniyar, for the officials who backed him, and for a university that clearly does not give a fuck about sexual violence.
This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.
