Hyderabad: Sutradhar Theatre School founder Vinay Verma was taken into custody and sent to judicial remand on Tuesday for allegedly trying to outrage the modesty of a woman. He was released on bail later in the evening.
A student of the theatre school had filed a complaint on April 17 against Varma for asking a batch of nine students, seven boys and two girls, to remove their clothes till the undergarments.
If they refused, they were to be asked to the leave the class. A formal complaint was lodged by a student, Achint Kaur Chadda, at the Narayanguda police station.
Ms Chadda, 21, had joined theatre school for a four-week workshop on personality development. The course included exercises aimed at improving concentration, ways to reduce stress among others. The incident which led to Verma’s arrest occurred on April 15.
“During a session on April 15 Vinay Varma asked the students to remove our clothes. I informed Mr Varma that I wasn’t comfortable, he asked me to leave the class. I picked up my bag, cell phone and left the workshop,” Ms Chadda said. The student approached the She teams and was directed to the Narayanguda police station owing to jurisdiction limitations.
The arrest comes after many protests held by the student’s family at the police station. However, many people from the art circuit supported Mr Varma. One of them was his student Dhruvan Katakam who told this newspaper: “The complainant has misunderstood the concept behind that act.”
He said the workshop contained many different dimensions and a number of approaches to improve the voice, get body flexibility and make the participant physically and mentally strong.
“For some it seems odd or unrelatable. That is the reason this activity has been taken in a negative manner and is being projected as sexual harassment.”
