Hari Padman, a suspended faculty member of the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts under Kalakshetra Foundation, who was arrested on charges of sexual harassment, has been granted bail by the IX Metropolitan Magistrate Court at the Saidapet court complex.
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Police sources said he was granted mandatory bail on Saturday, June 3, 2023, by the court, as per the provisions of the law.
In March, students of the Kalakshetra Foundation had resorted to protests demanding the dismissal of four staff members including Padman, who, they accused of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment inside the campus.
Following a complaint from a former woman student of the college who had discontinued her studies in 2019, the All Women Police, Adyar booked Hari Padman under sections 354A (sexual harassment) 509 (use of words, gestures or acts intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code and section 4 of the T.N. Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
Two days later on April 3, 2023, Hari Padman was arrested by the police in the early hours, and remanded to judicial custody.
