Sexual misconduct can't be condoned: Activist

Jubilee Hills: Theater personality Vinay Varma had been arrested by the Narayanaguda police on Tuesday for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman. He has been running the theater group 'Sutradhar.' Varma was accused by a 21-year-old woman of asking them to 'remove their clothes as part of an acting workshop.'

When they refused, he reportedly asked them to get out. He was remanded to judicial custody but was let out on bail later on Tuesday. "This is part of the acting exercise when we mould them and test if they are able to do it. The students who can't do it are told to stand outside the class," said Vinay Varma. "We never forced them. We are willing to reimburse the fee of those who can't do it" he added

A lot of his followers and supporters have been trying to put forward the reason behind the act "Vinay Verma has been an acting coach for way too many years and a theatre artist himself. Hyderabad is a small (read tight) city and pretty much in the industry, everybody knows everybody.

In my personal experience, I have never once found him to be inappropriate or lecherous. Asking actors to remove their clothes has been a popular/common (maybe not mainstream) way to get them to leave their inhibitions behind while teaching acting," says one of Vinay Varma's supporter on social media

Varsha Bhargavi, who led a movement #iwillgoout in 2017 with over 500 women in Hyderabad against 'Sexual Harassment Against Women and Girls on Streets' said that what the girl did was right by reporting the case, but the law had its own loopholes and he got a bailout.

"I am a child activist myself. I conduct sexuality classes for children below 18. We conduct classes about sexual abuse and how to protect themselves and about the difference between good touch and bad tough, but that doesn't mean that I ask my children to participate in sexual acts in order to understand it," she said.

"I have been getting messages on Facebook asking me why I'm against Vinay Varma, I've got nothing against Vinay Varma but his actions against that woman. As a woman I'm expressing my disgust against it. I think I have every right to do it.

I have done it for the Chief Justice of India and also for one of the union ministers. No matter who the person is, if he has done something disgusting, punishable under the law he should face the music, and we will see to that he does," she added.