Thirty-five FTII students were listed in a chargesheet on Monday for allegedly gheraoing and illegally confining the institute’s director, Prashant Pathrabe, last year. Thirty of the 35 were later granted bail.
The Deccan-Gymkhana police, which is probing the case, filed the chargesheet and the next hearing will be held on 2 April, the prosecution said.
There are total 35 students against whom the charge sheet has been filed. Five students were arrested on the intervening night of August 18-19 and released on bail. Thirty students, including 12 who were out on anticipatory bail, were given (regular) bail today.Shrikant Shivade, Defence Counsel
Shivade moved a bail plea for 30 students in the court of First Class Judicial Magistrate, SS Bangad, who granted bail to all the students on a personal bond of Rs 3,000 each.
The FTII students, who were on a strike for 139 days since June last year against the appointment of BJP member Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman, had allegedly gheraoed and confined Pathrabe in his office on 17 August.
They had challenged his decision to go ahead with the assessment of the incomplete diploma film projects of the 2008 batch students.
The incident had led to police swooping in on the campus on the intervening night of August 18-19, and arresting five students.
The students were booked under various sections of the IPC – including 143, 147, 149, 323, 353 and 506 – dealing with offences related to unlawful assembly, criminal intimidation, and rioting. Some of the offences are non-bailable. Seventeen students were identified and named in an FIR filed in connection with the case.
Last week, the police, after screening the video footage of the incident, had identified 18 more students and asked them to present themselves in the court on Monday.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)