Dance Professor Arrested on Sexual harassment Charge in Chennai

Chennai: An assistant professor Hari Padman serving at a prestigious institution for classical arts in Tamil Nadu was arrested on Monday on the basis of a sexual harassment complaint filed by a former student against him.

Last week, around 90 male and female students of the institution handed over a complaint to the chief of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women alleging sexual harassment, body-shaming and verbal abuse by the professor. They also named three other repertory artists in their complaint. The students also wrote to Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and Chief Minister MK Stalin seeking the removal of the Director of the institution Revathi Ramachandran for alleged inaction.

The arrested dance professor was serving in the Kalakshetra Foundation’s Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts. Cases under Indian Penal Code Sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (use of acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) along with Section 4 of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act were lodged against him.

He is among four faculty members accused of sexual harassment at the prestigious institution.

On April 2, a team of the Tamil Nadu Police went to Kerala to record the statements of witnesses in the sexual harassment case against Padman.