A foreign student of Bhopal based Dhrupad Sansthan has accused renowned Dhrupad singer late Ramakant Gundecha and his younger brother and Pakhawaj player Akhilesh Gundecha for sexual abuse at the Sansthan.
A yoga teacher from Amsterdam through a post in a Facebook group ‘Dhrupad Family Europe’ alleged the sexual harassment by Pt. Ramakant and Akhilesh Gundecha for years. She has posted the allegations on behalf of her friend.
Chairman of Dhrupad Sansthan, Umakant Gundecha stated that an internal committee has been constituted to look into the allegations levelled against Akhilesh Gundecha. “Until the committee submits its report, without averting to the merits of the allegations, Akhilesh Gundecha has voluntarily recused himself from all the activities of Dhrupad Sansthan,” said Umakant Gundecha.
As per the report of The Indian Express, a woman student of Akhilesh, who left the institute after a couple of months, told that he would keep talking about her looks and how lonely he was. “I ignored it initially. I told him that I was here to learn music with clean intentions. He would keep sending messages. When I confronted him once, albeit mildly, as he was my guru, my father’s age, and I really looked up to him, he said it wasn’t his fault and that he couldn’t help himself because of how I looked,” said the student.
She said in one-on-one sessions, Akhilesh would sit really close to students, sometimes behind them, and hold their hands to teach. “One knows when the touch is inappropriate. I was confused and uncomfortable,” she said, adding she had only told her family so far about what had happened and not anyone at the institute. She claimed hearing that a couple of students had confronted Akhilesh once, but he was reportedly unfazed, telling them, “You do whatever you want, go to the press if need be, nothing will happen to me.”
She claimed that many, particularly the students from small towns of India, put up with the misbehaviour because of their yearning to learn music. “They (the Gundechas) have the power to put you out of the music circuit. You don’t get any concerts and can’t have a career.”
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