Hyderabad: A student of Sutradhar Theatre School has filed a complaint against its founder, artiste Vinay Varma. The student, Achint Kaur Chadda, has accused Mr Varma of asking students in a workshop to remove their clothes, and if they disobeyed, they would be asked the leave the class.
The complaint was filed at the Narayana police station and a case under section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) has been booked against Mr Varma.
Twenty-one-year-old Achint Kaur Chadda joined Sutradhar for a four-week workshop on personality development.
“I joined the course to get rid of my stage fear and improve my self-confidence,” Ms Chaddha told this newspaper.
“We had Yoga sessions which I participated in. But on April 15, during one session, Mr Vinay Varma asked the batch of nine students (seven boys and two girls) to remove our clothes minus undergarments.”
She further adds, “I conveyed my discomfort to Mr Varma, yet he asked me to leave the class. I picked up my bag, cell phone and left the workshop.”
Ms Chaddha approached the She teams and was directed to the Narayanguda police station, which registered the complaint.
The other eight students have not filed a complaint and instead have supported Mr Varma.
Mr Varma told this newspaper: “It is a baseless allegation. For over 20 years now we have been conducting such workshops to improve physical and mental endurance, concentration. The exercise which includes removal of garments (upper clothing only) is meant to free oneself from consciousness. It is to make the students understand that the body is an instrument. Never have we insisted students strip or go nude, there was no compulsion in this case. Students are not touched, nor taken aside. Many who followed benefitted from the exercise. With Achint Kaur Chadda, I asked her to stay away because she refused to partake.”
The other participants have backed Mr Varma. “We found nothing wrong in the exercise. Except for Achint Kaur Chadda none of the students complained,” said one of the students who didn’t want to be named.
