CHENNAI: Two days after the All Women Police Station booked assistant professor Hari Padman, of Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, Kalakshetra Foundation, for sexual harassment of students, he is yet to be arrested.
While on Sunday, several media outlets reported that Padman was absconding, police did not confirm this development. A senior police officer said that they were collecting evidence and recording statements. Only after due procedure will we decide the next course of action, the officer added. Police refused to comment when asked about media reports saying that Padman is absconding.
The complaint was lodged by a former student in the city. Police sources said that Padman sent obscene messages and comments to her on social media. The victim also mentioned that he she had to discontinue her course because of his harassment.
The accused, however, kept harassing her even after she had left the institution, said a senior police officer. He was booked under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment), 509 (use of words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women
Act, 1998.
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