Chennai: Students staged a protest on Thursday at Kalakshetra Foundation, a top arts and cultural academy in Chennai, demanding action against four senior male faculty members accused of sexual harassment.

Amid the protests, the Foundation announced closing the Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts until April 6 and asked the students to vacate the campus. But refusing to budge until they get justice, the students continued their protests until the time of writing.

The protests come after their disappointment with the response of Kalakshetra, which functions autonomously under the ministry of culture, to their complaints against a senior male dancer who is set to perform a dance drama on Friday. The senior male dancer has been accused of sexual harassment.

Kalakshetra had on March 19 said that their Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) suo moto initiated an investigation and found no truth in the complaints. Based on this, the National Commission for Women (NCW) decided to close the complaint though the central body had on March 22 tweeted that they are informing Tamil Nadu DGP Sylendra Babu to file an FIR against the alleged perpetrator and Kalakshetra’s director Revathi Ramachandran for allegedly shielding him. The Chennai police began an investigation on March 20.

On Thursday, four teachers were accused of sexually harassing the students and their names were revealed during the protests. “We will stand in solidarity until the accused are rusticated from the institution,” said a protesting student who shared their list of demands. A group of cotton saree-clad students held placards with the slogan, “we want justice”, and raised the slogan in chorus. They also released a poster on social media requesting youngsters to stand by them to “put an end” to the “sexual harassment and misconduct” on the campus which they said has been going on for long.

“Kalakshetra has been dismissive of our complaints when we submit a letter or talk about it,” one of the protesting students told reporters. “They didn’t take it seriously and kept telling us that they would give us a solution but till today we have not received a solution. If we don’t unite, we realise, we will never get justice. There are four people we have complained about sexually harassing us and everyone knows who those four are. One of them who has been sexually harassing us is also performing tomorrow. So, if this continues, there is no safety for us and students joining after us.”

The Rukmini Devi College of Fine Arts (under Kalakshetra) will remain closed from March 30 (5.15 pm) to April 6, said a circular issued by the principal Pakala Ramadas. “All inmates are requested to vacate the hostel within two days with immediate effect,” the circular read. “Exams scheduled on these days are postponed. New dates will be announced in due course.”

Students said that the institution was threatening them with this circular instead of addressing the sexual harassment. By evening the city police had also arrived on the campus. “Senior students and police are inside the director’s room for a discussion,” said one of the protesters who did not wish to be identified. “They are not addressing the elephant in the room. The director is saying that there is no evidence, no written complaint so nothing can be done. Several emails of complaints sent to the ICC are being gathered now.”

The complaints of sexual harassment came into the public domain when Kalakshetra’s former director Leela Samson had in a Facebook post last December written about how several students were continuing to face sexual harassment under a teacher who was abusing his position of power. While Samson did not name the alleged perpetrator, she had named survivors. She has since deleted the post. CAREspaces (Conscientious Artistes Rallying for Ethical Spaces in the Indians Arts Community), a non-profit organisation (NPO), based out of the US, in December 2022 released a statement that they would support survivors and allies in Kalakshetra since many allegations of abuse of power, controlling opportunities for personal gains, and actively neglecting complaints have surfaced.

Last week, a complaint was filed in the Adyar police station by one of the women from Kalakshetra against former director Samson for naming her in a Facebook post saying that she is not a victim. NCW’s chairperson Rekha Sharma reportedly went to the Kalakshetra campus on Wednesday regarding the complaints. On March 25, Kalakshetra released another statement that they have requested the NCW to consider the action already taken and welcome further enquiry if not satisfied. “During the last few months, a scurrilous campaign is being carried out through social media posts casting aspirations on the functioning of Kalakshetra Foundation, and targeting some members of faculty and also malingering the institution’s credibility,” the Foundation said on March 25.

Countering their response, Carnatic musician T M Krishna on March 27 wrote an open letter addressed to Kalakshetra’s chairman S Ramadorai. “The lack of sensitivity, the aggressive tone, and the dismissiveness is unbecoming,” Krishna had said in his letter. “I am also shocked that in some quarters this is being turned into an attack on the institution and sullied with political/religious insinuations.” Krishna urged the Kalakshetra chairman to take action to address “these very serious complaints.”