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Kalakshetra teacher’s bail plea to be heard after verdict on students’ petition
Madras high court on Friday decided to hear the bail plea of a Kalakshetra Foundation faculty member Hari Padman on June 15, only after knowing the decision on petition filed by students.
Madras high court on Friday decided to hear the bail plea of a Kalakshetra Foundation faculty member Hari Padman, arrested on charges of sexual harassment on April 3, only after knowing the outcome of the joint petition of seven students of the Foundation on June 15.
The decision came after the Tamil Nadu state commission for women who had received close to 100 complaints of sexual harassment from students opposed any relief to Padman.
The commission filed an intervening petition.
“We opposed it on the grounds that if he comes out on bail, there are chances of him approaching the witness and trying to influence the procedure,” said women commission head AS Kumari.
“When the case is still on-going and we are still collecting evidence related to him and others, he cannot come out,” Kumari said. Padman has remained in prison since his arrest.
After inquiry, the commission had submitted a report to chief secretary Irai Anbu stating that prima facie a case of sexual harassment has been made out. So the state government’s counsel (additional public prosecutor A Damodharan) also submitted to the court that they oppose the bail, according to people familiar with the matter.
During the hearing, justice GK Ilanthiraiyan said that Padman’s bail plea will be heard on June 16, a day after the order of justice M Dhandapani who will hear the petition of the seven students of the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts run under Kalakshetra.
The students who have been allowed to keep their identity protected in the case have sought a safe learning environment and a redressal mechanism to deal with complaints on campus.
In the earlier hearing on April 26, Justice Dhandapani directed the Kalakshetra Foundation to produce profiles of members in the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) constituted earlier on April 3 and to frame a new policy which includes parents and teachers and then reconstitute the ICC.
The premium performing arts institution in Chennai has been in the spotlight after students went on protests alleging sexual harassment by four teachers.
The Adyar All Women Police Station in Chennai arrested one of the accused, Padman, based on the complaint of an alumni of Kalakshetra who came forward after protests by current students. Padman, an assistant professor, has also been suspended by Kalakshetra but not before the institution dismissed the allegations.
On March 19, Kalakshetra’s administration released a statement that said their ICC found no truth in the allegations.
The students began protesting on March 30 demanding that four teachers including Padman be suspended for alleged sexual harassment against female and male students. The protest was temporarily called off on March 31 following the intervention of the head of the Tamil Nadu State Women Commission Kumari. The commission had submitted its report in a sealed cover to the court in the previous hearing.
