It has been more than two years since a former student and faculty member accused a top official of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata of sexual harassment. Two months have passed since the institute’s Inquiry Authority found him guilty. Yet, she is still awaiting justice.
The complainant, who co-operated with the Internal Committee’s two-stage inquiry, said she was hopeful that the institute would act on the IC report.
But a few days ago, she learnt that the official, who had been asked to stay away from the campus while continuing to receive his remuneration, had been selected as a member of the organising committee of the Mumbai International Film Festival. The survivor told TNM that she could no longer stay silent.
"I reported sexual harassment because I believed in the law. I trusted the authorities at SRFTI and the Information and Broadcasting ministry to take action and protect a survivor. For more than two years, I endured an exhausting process and constant delay. Even when the IC found him guilty of sexual harassment and many other serious charges in its report, justice has still remained suspended,” she said.
The SRFTI is an autonomous institute that comes under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Bharatiya Janata Party’s Member of Parliament from Thrissur in Kerala and Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi is the chairperson of the institute. Under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act or POSH Act, an employer must take action on the IC report within 60 days. Though the deadline is over, Suresh Gopi has taken no decision.
“While I was still waiting for the IC report to be implemented, I learned that he had been appointed as a Non-Official Member of the Organising Committee (South Zone) of MIFF 2026, a prestigious event under the same Ministry of Information & Broadcasting that oversees SRFTI. It was devastating for me,” she said.
She had approached the IC in May 2024 with the complaint and a preliminary report was submitted in October 2024. Under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act or POSH Act, an IC inquiry should be completed within 90 days of receiving a complaint. In this case, the first stage of inquiry was completed in October 2024. However, the second stage conducted by the Inquiry Authority, after several delays, was completed only in May 2026. The Inquiry Authority found the official guilty of several charges.
Suresh Gopi had earlier faced allegations of causing delay in the investigation when he allegedly refused to comply with the recommendations of the IC after the preliminary report was submitted.
He signed and issued the chargesheet required for the second stage of the investigation to proceed, only after several media had reported about the delay.
The survivor said that she had been continuously writing to officials of the institute including the chairperson as well as the I & B Ministry in these two years, over several delays and disappointments.
“I have constantly written to the Chairperson of SRFTI, Mr. Suresh Gopi, the Chancellor of SRFTI, Mr. Ashwini Vaishnaw, and officials of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, seeking the strict implementation of the IC's report. The two-month period available to the Chairman, Mr. Suresh Gopi, to act on the report expired the day before yesterday, yet no punitive action has been taken. Despite my repeated communications, I have been met only with silence,” she told us.
On July 7, the Students' Union of the institute put out a statement demanding action against the official. “The SRFTI Students' Union expresses its deep concern about the Institute's failure to ensure strict, timely action upon having received the Inquiry Authority's IC report in May 2026, which found the [official] guilty of sexual harassment and multiple serious misconducts under the POSH Act."
Raising concern over the prolonged delay in action, they asked, "What message does this send to survivors who choose to report sexual harassment despite immense personal, emotional, and professional costs? What confidence can students, employees and future complainants have in institutional mechanisms if an individual found guilty of sexual harassment continues to receive positions of prestige and public responsibility while strict action based on the Inquiry Authority's report remains pending?"
This is not the first time that officials of the SRFTI have been accused and found guilty of sexual harassment. More than 10 years ago, an IC had found two professors guilty of sexual harassment after investigating a complaint made by a few students. The professors were made to go on compulsory retirement. However, last year, they approached a tribunal to send fresh legal notices to the survivors.
At the SRFTI, the IC complaints fall under two dominions - one in which an employee accuses another, and the other in which a student accuses an employee, including teachers and officials. In the case of a student’s complaint, a student representative will be involved in the process. According to a source, while the student complaints are to be closed within the 90 day period allowed by the law, or else an extended 180 day period, the cases involving two employees may take longer. The accused official is allowed an extended period to present their side of the case. But even so, IC reports which have been completed on time are still pending for implementation because of alleged delays caused by the chairperson. Often, the source said, it takes several rounds of requests from the IC officials for the chairperson to act on the reports.
However, the continued apathy had not deterred the survivor from proceeding with her case. She told TNM, “Today, I am asking for accountability. I will continue to fight until justice is not just acknowledged in a report but implemented in strict action. I owe that not only to myself, but to every survivor who deserves to know that speaking the truth will not be met with silence, delay, and institutional indifference.”