CHENNAI: The police on Thursday filed a 250-page chargesheet in the sexual harassment case at the Kalakshetra Foundation’s Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts (RDCFA) after women officials conducted inquiries with more than 50 students of the college.
On March 30, the students held a protest inside the campus alleging that four professors - Hari Padman, Sanjith Lal, Sai Krishnan, and Sreenath - had been sexually harassing students for the past 10 years, and demanded the dismissal of these faculty members.
A woman alumnus of the institute, who had discontinued her studies in 2019, filed a complaint at the All Women Police Station, Adyar, against suspended faculty member Hari Padman. A detailed inquiry was conducted into the complaint and Hari Padman was booked under sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (use of words, gestures, or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, and section 4 of the TN Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
Two days later on April 3, Hari Padman was arrested by the police in the early hours and was remanded in judicial custody. He was granted bail by the IX Metropolitan Magistrate Court at the Saidapet court complex on June 6.