Well-known illustrator T F Hadimani was arrested on Saturday on charges of sexually harassing a woman writer and illustrator.Hadimani allegedly sent lewd messages and made phone calls using sexually explicit, offensive language.
The woman had filed a complaint with the Ashoknagar police on November 25.Hadimani, who used for work as chief illustrator for a widely circulated Kannada daily, got to know the complainant after she wrote an article in a Kannada weekly published by the same group. Besides calling and texting, he allegedly posted offensive messages on a social networking site.The woman had warned him to stop, and told him to stay away from her. But he continued to send messages. She then approached the police.
When the police went to arrest him, they found that he no longer lived at the address he had provided his employers. “He has confessed to the crime, and says he apologised to her after she filed a complaint,” a senior policeman said.A Doordarshan employee had filed a similar complaint against him at the Cubbon Park police station a few months ago.As a caricaturist, Hadimani is regarded highly by his peers. His artistic work in many reputed publications has won him much admiration.
The Ashoknagar police have booked Hadimani under Section 354 of IPC, which deals with the “use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty”. They produced him before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody.