In midnight swoop on FTII campus, Pune police arrest half a dozen students

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Since over a hundred students had gathered at the main gate along with at least a dozen television cameras taking sound bytes of the students, it took police about one and a half hours to complete the formalities. Students roped in a lawyer who objected to police trying to arrest the female students post midnight.

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The police then let the three accused girl students go and also failed to identify seven other students due to misspelt names, thus finally taking only five students to the Deccan Police Station. About 100 students had gathered outside the station as the police recorded the statements of arrested students. At 3 am, the students were taken to Sassoon General Hospital for a medical examination as required by the Criminal Procedure Code.

When asked why the police arrested the students so late in the night, Inspector Chougule told The Indian Express, “Complainant reached the police station at 9.30 pm. We finished recording his statement and registering the FIR (First Information Report) by 11.15 pm. As soon as we were done, we left for the institute to take the required legal recourse.”

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In the complaint, Pathrabe has alleged that in a meeting called for discussing the issue of assessment of diploma film projects of 2008 batch, about 50 students started to shout at him and demanded that he change the decision to carry out the assessment. He alleged that when he tried to leave the office at the end of the day, the students forcibly stopped him. They mishandled him, threatened him and also mentally harassed him by saying that he was incompetent to be on the post of the Director of FTII.

Students have been booked under sections 143, 147, 149, 323, 341, 353, 506 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

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WHERE’S THE REGISTRAR?

FTII students questioned the absence of institute Registrar U C Bodake – who lives opposite the main gate of the FTII campus- when the police were arresting students at midnight. The students argued that since he was the head of the head of administration, he should have been present at the campus.

“We stay here away from our homes. When at the institute, we are in custody of the Director and the Registrar. Since the Director himself filed a complaint against us, we can’t expect him to come here to question the police about this midnight crackdown. However, the Registrar should have been present here. On the contrary, we are told that he is a witness in the case and was present with the Director when he filed the complaint which is baseless,” said Ajayan Adat, a student.

A group of student also visited Bodake’s residence only to find that the entry gate locked from inside. Phone calls to him went unanswered.