In what has become a crucial development in the shocking sexual allegations against the faculty members of the renowned Kalakshetra Foundation in Chennai, the Chennai Police have on Friday filed a case against one of the accused faculty members, Hari Padman and the development has come parallelly to the decision from the students to call off their protests and hours after Chief Minister MK Stalin assured an appropriate action. 

Kalakshetra Foundation is an arts and cultural academy that operates under the Union Ministry of Culture. Based in Chennai, the institution has a nationwide prominence and is known for its teaching in Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. It has a long tradition of contributing to the culture and is one of the top destinations for the students to aspire in arts and culture. 

For the past few days, the institution is painting a grim story where the students have alleged that four faculty members - Hari Padman, Sanjith Lal, Sai Krishnan, and Sreenath have sexually harassed the students. In an unprecedented event, several students and staff of the institution had held protests inside the campus against the abuse and they have also written to the National Commission for Women to take action against the accused faculty members. 

The events from the institution have been making national headlines and has taken central stage of politics in Tamil Nadu. The students have held protests nearly for three days and they observed a night-long agitation on Thursday. Responding to the outrage in the assembly, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday- March 31 assured that the appropriate legal action will be taken if the allegations are proven to be true. 

Hours after his statement, Chennai Police have registered an FIR against Hari Padman under Sections 354A - sexual harassment, 506- criminal intimidation of the IPC and Section 4 - penalty for harassment of woman of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act. A case against Padman, that was registered at the Adyar All Women Police Station, has drawn huge attention and according to reports, the accused faculty member will soon be facing interrogations about the allegations. 

The protests began on Thursday morning when the students boycotted the prayer meeting after one of the accused Hari Padman came to the campus. Besides writing to the National Commission for Women, the students have also written to Union Minister of Culture, G Kishan Reddy, and Chief Minister MK Stalin. Hours after the assurance from the Chief Minister, it has been reported that the students have called off the protests. In a video after calling off the protests, students said, "We would like to thank the law and order and other official bodies who have been a support to all of us."