CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed the Kalakshetra Foundation to file a counter to the plea of Hari Padman, a former assistant professor, seeking to quash his dismissal from service followed by the sexual harassment allegations.
The petitioner submitted that since the case related to the sexual harassment allegation is still pending, his dismissal from the service was unconstitutional and sought to quash the order.
After the submission, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy directed Kalakshetra to file a counter and posted the matter to July 19. On March 30, 2023, students of Kalakshetra raised sexual harassment allegations against some of the faculty members, and demanded their suspension.
Following that, a former student of Kalakshetra, who had discontinued her studies in 2019, filed a sexual harassment complaint against Padman. Based on her complaint, Adyar police booked a case against him including 354 (A), 509 of IPC, and Section 4 of TN Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 2002.