One of India’s pre-eminent artwork and cultural establishments, Kalakshetra, has been embroiled in an unpleasant row over allegations of sexual harassment towards a school member and three repertory artists who work as substitute lecturers on the prestigious dance academy.

At the centre of the controversy is a university run by Kalakshetra, the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts, well-known for instructing Bharatanatyam, a classical dance kind.

Last week, police arrested assistant professor and achieved dancer Hari Padman after a former pupil lodged a criticism accusing him of sexual harassment.

It got here after days of protests by greater than 200 college students of the institute, positioned within the metropolis of Chennai within the southern state of Tamil Nadu. They alleged that sexual harassment had been happening on the campus for years and accused the administration of ignoring their complaints.

The administration didn’t reply to the BBC’s questions. In a brief assertion on their web site, they’ve blamed “vested interests” for attempting to “sully” Kalakshetra Foundation, which is an autonomous establishment below India’s tradition ministry.

But after the scandal made headlines, the muse introduced a three-member panel, led by a retired excessive court docket choose, to analyze the allegations. It additionally suspended Hari Padman and stated the companies of the three repertory artists had been “dispensed with pending inquiry”. The Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women has additionally launched an inquiry.

Before his arrest, Hari Padman had denied the allegations towards him in conferences with faculty authorities. He additionally advised a TV channel that he would make each effort to hunt justice.

“There are hundreds of students studying in Kalakshetra. Ask them if I ever misbehaved with them or misspoke. I have never abused anybody. I stand by my conscience and I know they do not have a shred of evidence,” he told News18, including that he would depend on CCTV footage to show his innocence.

His spouse has additionally defended him and lodged a counter-complaint towards the complainant and two of Kalakshetra’s lecturers, accusing them of levelling false prices towards her husband out of “jealousy and professional rivalry”.

Divya Hari Padman stated the costs towards her husband have been “an act of revenge” as a result of he had “chided” some college students for dangerous behaviour and that the 2 lecturers had “instigated” the previous pupil to lodge the criticism.

Kalakshetra is usually described as “the IIT of fine arts” – drawing a comparability with India’s premier know-how institutes which might be extraordinarily powerful to get into. Students who earn an engineering diploma from there are wanted globally.

Similarly, Kalakshetra brings identify and fame to its college students, helps them earn properly and offers them alternatives to carry out the world over.

Many college students advised the BBC that it had been their life’s dream to hitch the dance academy and that they felt on prime of the world after they have been accepted.

But they now say that harassment from some lecturers has led them to doubt their self-worth.

The BBC spoke to a dozen college students, lecturers, former college students and different workers and heard claims of alleged abuse suffered by younger dancers. All of them spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the alleged abusers are well-known and achieved dancers.

Many of the complainants alleged a scarcity of freedom at Kalakshetra, verbal abuse, physique shaming and caste discrimination. Some college students stated they have been advised to drop some weight, others alleged they weren’t given necessary roles and discriminated towards for his or her darker complexion.

But essentially the most alarming allegations have been about sexual harassment – each female and male college students have complained of inappropriate touches and receiving lewd messages – and, they claimed, the authorities’ refusal to take complaints severely.

One former pupil advised the BBC that she was harassed and her grades fell when she resisted a instructor’s advances.

“He sent me a friend request on social media. When I didn’t accept it, he kept pestering me, asking why couldn’t I accept him as a friend,” she stated.

“Finally when I accepted his request, he started sending me lewd texts. They were so bad that I could not even share them with my close friends. After I unfriended him, he started to treat me badly,” she stated, alleging that her grades plummeted after her falling out with him.

A male pupil narrated an identical story of harassment by the hands of a special instructor.

“At midnight, he sent me a ‘good night’ message. When I replied, he asked if I was alone and if he could come over. I was shocked. He then asked for a video call so that he could see me ‘fully’. He continued sending lewd messages. I could not handle this, I fell ill,” he stated, including that the harassment elevated after he complained to the authorities.

“The administration did nothing about it and it further emboldened the harasser. It also prevented more students from coming forward to complain,” he stated.

Lawyer BS Ajeetha, who was an exterior member of the institute’s inner complaints committee (ICC) for sexual harassment since 2018 and give up just lately, says the allegations towards Hari Padman first surfaced in December in a now-deleted Facebook remark.

Leela Samson, certainly one of India’s best-known dancers and a former director of Kalakshetra, had accused an unnamed instructor of “molesting students” and alleged that “he was in an inappropriate relationship with a female student”. She additionally warned dad and mom towards sending their daughters to an institute peopled by “sexual predators”.

Although the submit didn’t identify the instructor, Hari Padman and the feminine pupil have been named later within the feedback. Both denied that there was something inappropriate about their relationship.

Ms Ajeetha, who was a part of the ICC when it investigated the case, stated “the student condemned the way her name was dragged into the controversy and said her relationship with Hari Padman was one of teacher and student. The case was closed because the female student denied any accusations of harassment”.

But since then, many college students have come ahead to degree severe allegations towards Hari Padman and the three repertory artists. Groups of scholars and alumni have additionally come to defend the establishment and its lecturers. Some have even steered that the “anonymous allegations” towards Hari Padman have been “false and politically motivated”.

The ICC thought-about another allegations too – one from a former feminine pupil accusing Hari Padman of “shouting at her and removing her from a dance show” and one other from three male college students who’d alleged sexual harassment by different lecturers.

Ms Ajeetha says the ICC could not do something in these circumstances as a result of India’s sexual harassment regulation is gender particular and permits ICC to solely take up circumstances of girls and solely these circumstances which have express allegations of sexual harassment.

“We forwarded the complaints to the management, advising them to take “stringent motion” against the teachers involved. But the administration did not deal properly with the students,” she added.

One pupil stated they have been taught to tolerate the whole lot and lots of fell in line as a result of it is a very shut group of artists and younger college students concern that talking out might have an effect on their careers.

For the second, he says, they’ve paused their protests and are busy writing their semester exams.

“We called off the agitation after the institute’s governing body assured us that our grievances would be looked into and action would be taken against our abusers,” he stated.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and options.