Several prominent artists and academics have released a statement defending Spaces, an arts foundation in Chennai headed by cultural critic Sadanand Menon, who has been accused of sexual misconduct. Last week, a group of 30 activists, journalists, and students of Asian College of Journalism submitted a petition seeking an inquiry into the allegations made against him by a former student. Menon is an adjunct faculty at the institution.

The complainant approached the college’s Internal Complaints Committee in January. However, the college administration told her that it could not investigate her allegations since the matter did not fall under the committee’s jurisdiction. In the wake of the controversy, Menon has decided not to teach his elective course at the college for the coming academic year.

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The artists who released the statement on Tuesday emphasised the importance of Spaces to Chennai, and said discussions on social media on the matter should not undermine the foundation’s outstanding work.

The signatories include art critic Geeta Kapur, classical singer Neela Bhagwat, photographer Ketaki Sheth and artists Nilima Sheikh, Pushpamala and Sheba Chhachhi.

Here is the full text of the statement:

“Sexual harassment is unacceptable. For a sustained and effective opposition to sexual harassment, it is important that general and vague allegations be viewed with deeper scrutiny than what appears to have been done by a bewildering array of persons to the sudden spurt of allegations against well-known cultural critic, Sadanand Menon.

Our main concern here is about the inevitable banalising of such a serious matter as sexual harassment, unless campaigns are tempered with responsibility. A long delay in complaining is understandable in sexual harassment cases, given the unsupportive societal ethos. But it does introduce additional complexity and a greater need for caution in arriving at conclusions.

It is no disservice to feminism to say that human memory, motivations, and interpretations are infinitely more varied and complicated than are attributable to gender alone. The complaint against Sadanand Menon to ACJ by a former student met with an initial institutional response.

To further queries and demands, ACJ has responded on its website. There can be different views on the institution’s stand, but there is no doubt that both sides of the complaint are entitled to fair process and justice. Given the context of the complaint, and the jurisdictional and time-barred issues for the institution, it might be necessary to look at other ways of resolving this. It is our hope that the parties involved and those engaged with the issue would work towards a fair and just resolution.

A particular reported incident must be investigated but we are dismayed by the way rumour and hearsay are being freely used to give unsubstantiated allegations the status of proven fact.

SPACES, a trust started by Chandralekha and now headed by Sadanand, is an ‘oxygen tank’ in Chennai for rehearsals and performance of non-traditional, experimental, low budget artistic and cultural works. The vibrancy and integrity of that space have been brought into question with innuendo and character assassination.

We request that discussion in the social media be more balanced. We request that the outstanding work done by SPACES as a liberal, accessible and inclusive space in the cause of artistic and cultural expressions and exchanges not be undermined.

One must not forget that the community that had enjoyed, made use of and supported SPACES, rallied around two years ago after cyclone Vardah to help resurrect a space that many continue to see as a generous, nurturing place.”

Corrections and clarifications: This piece has been edited to remove a section of text that was a preface to the statement by the organisers but was not intended to be part of it.