I was tortured by the Students for 9 Hours, claims FTII Director

FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe spoke out on the issue of midnight crackdown on students, saying he was tortured by the unruly students for around 9 hours at midnight on Monday. “I was forced to call the police and later file FIR after things went beyond control,” he said.

They gheraoed me and held me in confinement for 8-9 hours, snatched my mobile phone and did not let me go. They subjected me to torture using interrogation tactics and also used verbal assault,” he claimed.

“When the police came to rescue me, they tried to block them too, damaged the furniture and vandalised the properties. I am still in a state of mental shock and it will take me a couple of days to come to normal, ” he added.

“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,” he said.

“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 Institution in poor light”, he said.

There was an uproar over the midnight arrest of 5 FTII students yesterday. NBW arrest warrant has been issued against 12 other students.