The police on Tuesday arrested S. Sunil Kumar, teacher at the School of Drama and Fine Arts, Thrissur, on charge of rape. The University of Calicut had on Monday suspended him, pending inquiry.
The Thrissur West police arrested him from Kannur for allegedly raping a first-year undergraduate student of the School of Drama and Fine Arts.
The police had earlier filed an FIR against him under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code, following a week-long protest by students of the institution. But the police were delaying the arrest.
Protest by students
The students, who strengthened the protest, gheraoed the police and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) members who reached the campus to monitor the agitation, on Monday evening. Though the police showed them the suspension order of the teacher, they insisted on his arrest. The students ended the agitation later following a promise by the police that the teacher would be arrested.
“The police initially refused to register a case against the teacher. It was after much pressure that they filed an FIR. The arrest was recorded after two days. The non-corporation of the police in such cases is objectionable,” said Asha Unnithan, advocate for the student. The student was under high mental pressure and had been hospitalised, she said. After the student lodged a complaint of rape against Sunil Kumar, he has been trying to put the girl in a bad light and spreading rumours about her.
In her complaint the student alleged that Sunil Kumar raped her in January this year when she was staying in the house where Sunil Kumar and wife were staying, when there was travel restrictions during the lockdown period.
