Seven students of Kalakshetra Foundation’s Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts (RDCFA) have approached the Madras High Court seeking the reconstitution of the Foundation’s Internal Committee (IC), the suspension of the alleged perpetrators of sexual harassment at the campus, and the formulation of a gender-neutral safety policy to deal with sexual and other kinds of harassment at the institution.
A writ of Mandamus dated April 11 was filed by seven students who requested to remain anonymous throughout the legal proceedings to avoid external interference and discriminatory treatment from the college. They have revealed their identities to the court through a sealed cover. A writ of Mandamus is filed when the petitioner wants the court to issue specific orders to a public institution/body/corporate/department that has failed to perform its duties.
The petition urges the court to issue an interim injunction to ensure that none of the respondents takes any adverse action against the petitioners pending its final disposal. The students also urged that the alleged perpetrators be suspended, and restrained from entering the campus or interacting with students pending any inquiry or disposal of the petition.
The six respondents made party to the writ are the Kalakshetra Foundation, Union Ministry of Culture, Tamil Nadu State Department of School Education, Union Ministry of Education, Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, and Kalakshetra director Revathi Ramachandran.
In March this year, several students accused the institution of propagating a toxic culture, and multiple students and alumni levelled allegations of sexual harassment against four employees — Hari Padman, who was an assistant professor of dance, and repertory members Sanjith Lal, Sai Krishnan, and Sreenath. They also accused Revathi Ramachandran of shielding the perpetrators.
Based on a complaint by an alumna, Hari Padman was booked under 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. Meanwhile, Kalakshetra dismissed the three repertory members and placed Hari Padman under suspension after the students staged an all-night protest inside the campus on March 30, alleging inaction.
The writ petition, filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, elaborates on the factors that enable harassment at Kalakshetra, citing that the alienation of the sprawling campus from the outside world, combined with the absolute position of power that teachers enjoy in the institution, makes students vulnerable to harassment.
Commenting on the guru-shishya model of teaching followed at Kalakshetra, the petitioners say that such a dynamic personalises the transmission of knowledge, thereby making it imperative that students submit to the gurus. The petition says that this also enables intimate interactions between teachers and students, thereby facilitating harassment. It urges that the alleged perpetrators be restrained from entering the campus pending enquiry, criminal proceedings, and the disposal of the writ petition.
Citing specific instances of body shaming, mental torture, institutional negligence, dismissal of complaints of harassment, and the continued protection of perpetrators by Revathi Ramachandran, the petition says that Kalakshetra has failed to comply with the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013, and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act of 1998.
It has also requested the court to order the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women to produce the report of its investigation into the complaints submitted by the students at Kalakshetra so that more light can be shed on the incidents that transpired within the campus.
The petition also underlines that no capacity-building exercises were conducted for the IC members and that the institution never encouraged any of the students to report harassment. It also says that despite repeated complaints, Kalakshetra only suspended Hari Padman after the police took action.
The petitioners have urged the Court to order the reconstitution of the IC with student and parent representatives, insisting that Revathi Ramachandran and the other members of the previous committee should not be part of the new committee.
They have also sought an interim injunction from the court “restraining the respondents from any adverse action, intimidation, harassment, or punitive measures, either directly or indirectly against any of the complainants/ representationalists/ students/ faculty members, including those who spoke up at January 3, 2023, sensitisation meeting held by the Internal Complaints Committee … pending final disposal of the writ petition.”
The Kalakshetra Foundation, recognised as an institution of national importance by the Union Ministry of Education, is situated on a 100-acre campus in south Chennai, where four other institutions cohabit — the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts (RDCFA); the Besant Arundale Senior Secondary School (BASS), a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated English medium school; the Besant Theosophical Higher Secondary School (BTHS), a state government-aided Tamil medium school; and the Craft Education and Research Centre (CERC), a unit of Kalakshetra where handwoven silk sarees and other textiles are produced.
The writ petition is listed for admission before Justice M Dhandapani of the Madras High Court on Monday, April 17.