Government Forms Panel to Assess FTII Situation

Information and Broadcasting Ministry has constituted a three-member team, headed by the Registrar of Newspapers for India S M Khan to assess the ground situation in Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune following the students’ unrest in the campus.

In a midnight crackdown, police arrested five students from the campus on charges of rioting and other offences after a group of striking students had on Monday gheraoed FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe, protesting against "irrational and unjustified" assessment of the incomplete diploma projects.

Officials said the team comprising Khan and two other officers will visit FTII where students are agitating over the appointment of actor Gajendra Chauhan as its chairman.

"The team headed by Khan and comprising two more I&B Ministry officials will visit Pune tomorrow and give its report on the situation there," said an official of the ministry.

Acting on a complaint filed by Pathrabe, police lodged an FIR against 15 students. Of them, five were arrested on charges of rioting under Section 353 of the IPC, police 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, “said Prashant Pathrabe while defending his action.

The students have been on strike for the last 69 days against the appointment of BJP member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute chairman.