The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: Sexual harassment accused professor Hari Padman has been found guilty by the independent inquiry committee constituted by the Kalakshetra Foundation, the Hindu reported.
The three member committee comprised former Punjab and Haryana high court judge K. Kannan, former Tamil Nadu DGP Letika Saran and medical professional Shobha Varthaman.
In a release, members of the committee said: “Since the report contains extremely sensitive information, which if revealed, would invade the privacy of individuals, we have recommended to the chairman to keep it confidential, except the concluding part of the report and the disclosure that will become necessary to the delinquent employee Shri Hari Padman to show cause against the findings of the report and the major punishment recommended by us.”
According to the report, the members of the committee said that the institution’s director and deputy director had shared all critical information relating to not only the students’ unrest but also all records relating to the administration.
The report, which is nearly 2,000 pages long including annexures, is based on the conversations the committee had with the students, staff and the foundation’s alumni, the Hindu reported.
Apart from recommending ‘major punishment’ for Padman, the committee also recommended reforms in the administrative set up to tune the institution’s activities “that will assure safety to students, by focusing to promote Kalakshetra Foundation primarily as an institution of higher learning and not to showcase it as an institution of public performers,” the report said.
Padman was accused of sexual harassment in March 2023 when the News Minute had reported the accounts of two survivors and six staff members detailing how the atmosphere at the Kalakshetra campus was “toxic”. Padman invited the students to his residence within the campus, and denying his advances invited severe humiliation and repercussions, even leading to some women quitting their course altogether, the News Minute had reported.
The inquiry committee to probe the matter was set up by S. Ramadorai, Chairman of the Kalakshetra Foundation, in April after facing criticism for issuing a gag order on the students and dismissing the initial allegations against Padman as “rumours” that were “aimed at maligning the Kalakshetra Foundation”.
Three other staff members were also accused of sexual harassment but no legal action has been taken against them so far, the News Minute reported.