BENGALURU : A group of students has created a comic illustrating how they were abused by a teacher, Mohan Polamar, at The Practise Room, a yoga centre in Cooke Town. The matter is under investigation currently by an internal committee comprising students and members of the organisation Enfold.
The comic shows a teacher touching the students inappropriately in the pretext of teaching them asanas. The Illustrated Women’s Guide to Yogabuse depicts a male teacher touching the female students inappropriately while explaining various postures. The students then wonder if they should consider telling someone about it, and when they finally do share their experiences with the owner of the centre and the teacher, they refute all allegations.
The teacher accuses the students of making passes at him instead, and abuses them. It ends with a note which tells readers it’s okay to have self-doubt, but report abuse by teachers and share your story.
It also depicts how a person who’s going for yoga classes for their overall wellbeing, ends up at another professional’s door seeking help. They try to relieve stress by overeating or watching Netflix. Several students have quit the institute after being allegedly victimised, or learning about these incidents.
One of the members behind the comic says, “All the experiences depicted in the comic are based on real incidents.” The member quit the institute in June after learning about the alleged ‘inappropriate behaviour’ of the teacher, who is, incidentally, married to the owner of the institute, Jaya Chakravarty. She says a meeting was held in July to discuss the issues, and the setting up of a fair internal committee to raise any complaints regarding classes was also discussed.
“Some victims were hesitant to come forward. We showed the owner and the teacher three testimonies by students who were harassed. They denied these allegations and said if we aren’t comfortable with the teacher touching them to explain the asanas, they shouldn’t do yoga.”
One of the students quit the classes after the teacher allegedly asked her out. Another also left due to his misconduct, she adds. The member says that after the complaints and testimonies were brought up at the meeting, the teacher was suspended for a year. But he’s said to have started taking classes just a month after. “He’s not being monitored, and many are unaware of these alleged incidents,” she says, adding that the institute has 200 students, with about 30 students in each batch.
The teacher, Mohan, says he cannot comment on the issue and that the matter is under investigation by an internal committee. “The complainants are being spoken to, and a report will be put up on the website in a week’s time.”When CE contacted Jaya Chakravarty, she wasn’t available for comment.