Film and Television Institute of India director Prashant Pathrabe said on Wednesday that a group of students kept him in illegal confinement for 8-10 hours and vandalised his office, forcing him to lodge a police complaint.
“Six [students] had been asked to come [into my office] but 40-50 came in forcibly. I had no choice but to start discussions with them. I was kept in illegal confinement for 8-10 hours on Monday night,” Pathrabe told the media in Pune, where the institute is based.
Pathrabe and the students were discussing the agenda for the assessment of projects by the 2008 batch of students. Pathrabe told the students his decision, but they said they would not let him leave until he reversed it.
While the assessment decision has currently been put on hold, a three-member committee from the information and broadcasting ministry will visit FTII on August 21 after which the final picture would be made clear, Pathrabe added.
“Initially, for a couple of hours, I refused to call the police. But after four to five hours when they didn’t give in, I had no choice but to call the police,” Pathrabe said.
He said the students formed a human chain to block him, verbally abused him and “tortured” him using interrogation techniques, with rapid-fire questions.
When the police came later that night, there was a scuffle in the director’s chamber and the students broke office furniture and cut telephone lines, after which the office was sealed.
“I really wonder by what yardstick you can call such people students. They wanted to enact a drama. It was all pre-planned to show the institute and [me] in a poor light,” Pathrabe added.
After the incident, he said he had no choice but to lodge a police complaint as he said tolerating such lawless behaviour would have emboldened them.
“I am still in a state of mental shock. It will take me a couple of days to come to normalcy,” Pathrabe said.
On April 27 last year, the FTII Academic Council decided on an “as is where is” or “pro rata assessment” of the 2008 batch’s pending projects since the students had been repeatedly given time to comply.
Later, the audit team raised objections by saying that despite two years passing and an extension of the course, the projects remained incomplete, adding to a backlog.
Accodingly, the FTII decided to initiate action, starting with the oldest batch of 2008 that had 49 students.
Meanwhile, FTII students have threatened to agitate further against the police action that was taken and the arrest of five students.
Many students allege that the police action was meant to break a separate students’ strike that has been going on since June opposing the appointment of television actor Gajendra Chauhan as the FTII chairman.
