FTII row: Cops called in after students hold director ‘hostage’

What began mainly as a discussion about the two issues soon took an ugly turn with students complaining about how Pathrabe had failed to address their concerns while acting just as “bureaucrat non-sympathetic to them” and eventually stopping him from leaving his cabin.

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Pathrabe, who was appointed FTII director on July 17, maintained all along that he had been ordered to go ahead with the assessment process. “I have been ordered to do this. I have to follow the directive given to me. There were two zero years (no-admission years) aimed at reducing backlogs, but they failed to do so. So now, there’s no other option but to do the assessment,” he said while refusing to put on hold the assessment of incomplete diploma film projects of 2008 batch.

Students, however, argued that administrative and academic problems faced by the institute in last 15 years were to blame for the delay in completion of courses and that they couldn’t be made to suffer because of such inadequacies. They also cited the opinion of previous directors and chairmen of the FTII and present faculty members to press their point.

The students also demanded that Pathrabe call up top officials of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and convey to them their concerns. In turn, the director pleaded helplessness in the matter and asked the students to themselves contact the officials.

Some faculty members, who too had reached the director’s office by then, also backed students saying the present times were not conducive for conducting the assessment and said the students of 2008 batch should be allowed to finish their projects before the assessment commenced.

As the deadlock persisted and tempers rose, the institute’s registrar called up the police around 10 pm. Three policemen arrived around 15 minutes later, but the students did not let them enter the cabin. The police team called for reinforcements and another six policemen reached the spot minutes later.

After much resistance from the students, the police team was able to reach Pathrabe and escort him outside in the open. In the process, some furniture and window panes in the director’s office were reportedly damaged.

The director and the students then held another round of meeting in the open after which the former decided to put the assessment on hold.