FTII Director justifies police action on students

Pune, Aug. 19 : Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Director Prashant Pathrabe on Wednesday said he had no choice but to have the students arrested after he was illegally confined and verbally assaulted by them.

“I was kept in illegal confinement by the students for about 8-10 hours on Monday night, they (students) formed chains to forcefully block me. I was tortured using interrogation techniques, verbal assault,” said Pathrabe.

“I permitted six students for a discussion but more than 40 to 50 people came in forcefully and I had no choice but to start a discussion. After the discussion on the agenda of assessment, when I told them my decision, they said we will not allow you to go,” he added.

The FTII Director further said that he was still in a state of mental shock, adding that it would take him a couple of days to come to normal.

Pathabre noted that he had no choice as tolerating this kind of lawless behavior would have emboldened the students to do anything further.

“I really wonder by what yardstick you can call such people ‘students’. They wanted to enact a drama, it was all pre-planned to show the Director and the institution in poor light,” he added. (ANI)