The Karnataka High Court has granted bail to a woman who allegedly, with a view to take revenge and mar another fellow, woman co-artist’s chances in getting roles in dramas, threw acid on her face.

A single judge bench of Justice K Natarajan , on September 9,2022, allowed the petition filed by Swathi and directed the committal court to release her on bail in case registered by Nandini Layout Police Station for the offences punishable under Sections 326A, 448 read with Section 34 of IPC, on execution of a personal bond for a sum of Rs.5,00,000, with two sureties for the like sum reports LiveLaw.

The Petitioner is named as the third accused in the FIR. According to the prosecution (Swathi v. State of Karnataka), she colluded with accused no. 1 and 2 and the trio decided to throw acid on the victim’s face to make her ‘ugly’. In pursuance of this, it is alleged that the trio drove to her house where accused No.1 threw cleaning acid on her face and the back while she was sleeping and ran away.

After verifying the CCTV footage, accused Nos.1 to 3 were arrested and they are in custody.

Findings:

While the Court did remark that it is unfortunate that a woman, in order to take revenge against another woman, threw acid on her through accused Nos.1 and 2 to disfigure her as a competition, it however allowed the bail plea. Keeping in view the “superficial injury” sustained by the victim and the duration of the petitioner’s custody, she was ordered to be released. The Court also said that investigation in the matter is complete and a charge-sheet has been filed.

“This petitioner is also a woman, a co-drama artist and in custody for almost more than five months. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, the co-accused are already arrested and they are in jail, therefore, by imposing certain stringent conditions, if bail is granted to the petitioner, no prejudice would be caused to the case of the prosecution.“

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The protest headed by Rakesh Singh, an alumnus of NSD, highlights institutional irregularities. Speaking to the Indian Cultural Forum, Singh said, “This is my silent protest and it is non-violent. This is my first demand. I have been associated with NSD for 20 years now and I have found the standard deteriorate over the years. This is one of the prime institutes of India. The award was meant for people who have made considerable contribution to the field of theatre for 10 or 20 years. The institute has become a lobby for 10 people.”

In solidarity with the protest, prominent theatre actor and director M K Raina said to the Indian Cultural Forum, “The awards were discontinued in 2010 for the simple reason that they were being awarded to the NSD faculty itself and there were members within the faculty that raised objection to this. 10 years of awards have been decided on by one jury, and it is not clear what criteria they were following for this. There has been no information about this. These awards are ignoring the good work theatre artists have done across the country and are only being given out to the people who are closest to the institute.”

Among other concerns raised by the people who opposed the award ceremony is the discontinuation of the NSD’s acclaimed journal, Theatre India and the teaching positions lying vacant at the institute. Raina pointed out that the academic priorities have taken a backseat and the institute is only focusing its attention on organising various programmes while important posts remain vacant. The last director of the institute was Waman Kendre, and Suresh Sharma is presently acting as the Director In-Charge. 

“NSD is getting additional money from different places for doing various things like tribal festival, North-East festival which is not within the mandate of the National School of Drama, but the lure of money is too great. Academics are not a priority for them now,” said Raina.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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