FTII row: Faculty supports protesting students, accuses director Prashant Pathrabe of spreading false information

Pune, August 20: In a letter written to Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the faculty members of Film and Television Institute of India expressed their disgust against the actions of institute’s director Prashant Pathrabe.Kedarnath Awati, President of FTII Teacher’s Association, has alleged Pathrabe of spreading misinformation in the public domain. In the letter written on Wednesday, Kedarnath accused the FTII director of deliberately running a false campaign to malign the image of the protesting students. According to Awati, the charges lamented against the students are cooked up and absolutely baseless. “The teachers of FTII condemn the manner in which students were picked up by the police in the dead of night in the absence of senior members of the administration,” the letter stated, further adding that no violent behaviour was exhibited by the students till the end of the meeting between the students and the director.The teachers’ association also urged the Ministry to send its three member delegation after August 25. “We have been informed that the central team has been deputed to visit the institution on 21st August. In this connection the faculty members would like to request this team to come after 25th August since the faculty members will be busy with the entrance examination procedure till then”. The Pune police arrested 5 protesting students late night on Tuesday, after receiving complaints of assault and intimidation by director Prashant Pathrabe. A total of 15 students were booked for rioting in the campus.