CHENNAI: Citing dissatisfaction over the manner in which Kalakshetra Foundation handled sexual harassment allegations levelled by students against four faculty members, BS Ajeetha, advocate and external member in the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the foundation, resigned on Tuesday.
In her resignation letter to Kalakshetra director, Ajeetha said, “I am quite disturbed by the recent happenings in your institution and the response of the administration to the issues.” She was a member of the committee constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Places Act, 2013 for the past four years.
Speaking to TNIE, Ajeetha said that ICC received four complaints in the last few months, which included one from a former female student who had to abandon her course due to the behaviour of accused Hari Padman. The remaining three complaints were from male students accusing male teachers of sexual harassment.
“In ICC, we have a very specific mandate of looking into sexual harassment allegations. As the Act is very gender-specific, ICC does not have the power to take action against complaints of male students against male teachers. But I strongly felt the management should have taken some disciplinary action,” said Ajeetha.
The former female student had alleged that she dropped out due to humiliation from the accused. The ICC could not take any action in the case as it talked more about humiliation, but the management also did nothing to instill confidence among students.
“The anger of students snowballed into agitation because the management and those in authority took no step to address the issues. Immediate disciplinary action should have been taken against wrongdoers, or at least, a fair inquiry should have been held. I do not want to be part of any committee under this current management,” Ajeetha told TNIE.
In her letter, she also mentioned, “The present atmosphere in the institution and large-scale discontentment of women students and staff make me rethink as to whether I should continue to be an external member of committee attached to the institute. I have my own reservations regarding the responses made by the administration to the present controversy."
"Hence I do not want to associate myself anymore with your institution and particularly to continue as a member of the committee. I hereby tender my resignation and it shall come into force with immediate effect. Hope better counsel will prevail to the administration and things will be sorted out in a judicious manner which will be acceptable to all the affected students.”
The Tamil Nadu Women Commission, which submitted its report on the Kalakshetra issue to the state government on Monday, has highlighted serious complaints in its report. According to sources in the Women’s Commission, out of the 100 complaints it received from students in written form and through email, over a dozen were of particularly serious nature.
“The students, including a few men, have made serious allegations against the four accused. Some students have alleged that one of the male teachers used to call him late-night on video calls and used to speak inappropriate things. A few students have alleged that they were groped backstage during performances. One of the mails narrated how one of the accused opened his dhoti in the classroom making female students uncomfortable. The students also accused a teacher of asking female students to meet him alone outside the campus,” said a source from the commission.
The commission has taken note of all types of complaints and prepared a detailed report segregating it on the basis of physical harassment, including bullying, body shaming, sexual harassment, how the accused used to harass students through calls and whatsapp messages, emotional harassment and neglect of students who did not entertain the advances.
( with inputs from Subashini Vijayakumar)