FTII director Prashant Pathrabe 'held captive' in his office by protesting students
Three videos released today offered different perspectives of an ugly confrontation at Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), which resulted in the arrest of five students from the campus late on Tuesday night.
One video, released by the institute's management, shows students surrounding Director Prashant Pathrabe - seen standing on a table - and shouting slogans of "
Tanashahi Nahin Chalegi (down with dictatorship)."
The students held the director captive for at least eight hours in his office on Monday, refusing to let him go unless they were heard.
In the video, a large crowd of students keep shouting slogans in what is apparently the director's office.
As a counter, the students have released two videos - in the first, a policeman is seen pushing a student, and in the second, the director is seen chatting and laughing with the students at his office before the row escalated.
"I was illegally confined for eight to 10 hours. I was tortured with interrogation techniques. The students were disrespectful and abusive. They kept asking me the same question over and over...it would not be possible for any human being to answer them," Mr Pathrabe said today, justifying the students' arrest following his complaint to the police.
"How are these people students? The kept insisting I take my decision back, they destroyed office property. I am in a state of mental shock," he added.
The students had been objecting to the institute asking 2008 batch members to leave the hostel, and deciding to evaluate them even though they haven't finished their final project.
The director called the police at night, after which several students said they were mistreated and manhandled.
Mr Pathrabe filed a complaint against 17 students and also mentioned 30 unnamed students. The five who were arrested were released on bail today.
Around 200 students have been on strike for 70 days against the appointment of small-time TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the institute's governing body.