New Delhi: Kalakshetra Foundation terminated sexual harassment-accused teacher Hari Padman from service on 31 May, ThePrint can confirm.
Padman was earlier placed under suspension following allegations of sexual harassment against him, first reported by ThePrint in March 2023.
Padman, in the meantime, has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court against his termination, arguing that his dismissal was against the principles of natural justice. According to a court order seen by ThePrint, he also submitted that the respondents (Kalakshetra Foundation and Union of India) did not forward the internal complaints committee report, and no show-cause notice was issued to him. He further said that he was given no opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. The next hearing has been scheduled for 19 July.
A faculty member at Kalakshetra Foundation says the termination has been enforced because of the recommendations of the Justice Kannan Committee, constituted last year to probe the allegations of sexual harassment at the college. The committee’s report had recommended “major punishment” for Padman and described him as a “delinquent”.
The Chennai police have filed a chargesheet against Padman, who has been booked under sections 354A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code, as well as section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act (penalty for harassment of woman).
Sexual harassment charges at Kalakshetra
Hundreds of students had been forced to a secret online forum to tell stories of sexual harassment in January 2023. This was after a former director of Kalakshetra made allegations of sexual harassment by Hari Padman in a Facebook post in December 2022; the post was later deleted.
The allegations resurfaced after ThePrint’s investigation in March 2023 brought to the fore the stories of continued sexual harassment on campus. The report was vindicated by the findings of the Justice Kannan Committee.
Students had also protested the college’s inaction against the teachers in March, after which Padman was suspended and three contractual staffers facing similar allegations — Sai Krishnan, Sanjith Lal and Sreenath — were dismissed.
In April last year, A Kalakshetra alumna who identifies as a trans woman had also sent a complaint to the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, alleging sexual harassment by P.T. Narendran — now a Kalakshetra board member — and faculty member Mohanan in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Former professor Sheejith Krishna was arrested by the Neelankarai All Women Police Station on 22 April this year, based on a complaint by two former students who had approached the Madras High Court in December 2023. He was later granted bail.
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