Pune: Amid growing criticism over the arrest of five FTII students by the police, the institutes’s director Prashant Pathrabe has come out in defence of his decision to file an FIR against students.
Addressing a press conference, Pathrabe said, “I was kept in illegal confinement by students for about 8-10 hours on Monday night. Six people had been asked to come and 40-50 people came in forcefully and I had no choice but to start a discussion with them.”
“After the discussion on the agenda of assessment, when I told them my decision, they said we will not allow you to go. Initially for couple of hours I refused to call police, but even after 4-5 hours,they did not give in,I had no choice but to call police,” Pathrabe said.
“They formed chains to forcefully block me. I was tortured using interrogation techniques, verbal assault. When the Police came in, there was a scuffle that ensued and in it, they broke telepohone, furniture, the office has been sealed,” he added.
Expressing his anguish over the behaviour of the students, Pathrabe said, “I really wonder by what yardstick you can call such people 'students'. They wanted to enact a drama, it was all pre planned.”
I had to take the unfortunate step of filing an FIR with the Police yesterday night: FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe
Claiming that he was still in a state of mental shock Pathrabe said, “I had no choice but to take this decision as tolerating this kind of lawless behavior would have emboldened them to do anything further and there should be a deterrent.”
