TN Police Arrest Kalakshetra Dance Professor Accused in Sexual Harassment Case

Kalakshetra Sexual Harassment Row: TN cops arrested the accused dance professor who was on the run.

Kalakshetra professor Hari Padman who was accused of sexual harrassment was arrested by Chennai police on 3 April.

(Photo: The News Minute)

Hari Padman, a dance professor at Kalakshetra Foundation’s Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, accused of sexual harassment, was arrested on Monday, 3 April. The institute's director Revathi was interrogated by Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women chairperson AS Kumari, Sun News reported.

A couple of days ago, on 31 March, the faculty was booked under several sections of the IPC by the Chennai police based on a complaint that was filed by a survivor, a former student at the college. The faculty member went on the run after a criminal case was filed against him, The Hindu reported.

What has happened at Kalakshetra so far? The Union government-funded institution, Chennai's reputed dance school Kalakshetra has been facing serious allegations of toxic culture and sexual harassment.

On 30 March, students of the Kalakshetra Foundation began an indefinite protest demanding the dismissal of four faculty members and accused them of sexual harassment and abuse on campus. After receiving an assurance from the State Women's Commission and Chief Minister MK Stalin that the guilty would be brought to justice, the students reportedly withdrew their protests on Friday.

Three days after the student protests were called off, the accused faculty member, Hari Padman, was arrested today. The Chennai police had earlier registered First Information Report (FIR) against Padman at the Adyar All Women Police Station and booked him under Indian Penal Code sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and section 4 (penalty for harassment of woman) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. On 2 April, a team of Tamil Nadu police went to Kerala to record the statements of witnesses in the sexual harassment case against Padman, The News Minute reported.