Statement from affected students of Gurukul at Dhrupad Sansthan

To Whomsoever It May Concern

The following statement is to establish the truth about the happenings at Dhrupad Sansthan
regarding the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against Akhilesh and late
Ramakant Gundecha from the perspective of some of the resident students of the Gurukul.
This is needed because the official statement released by Dhrupad Sansthan does not
present the real picture of what has happened since the allegations became public.

Dhrupad Sansthan, although an NGO on paper, functions like a small family owned
business. There is neither a governing body nor an external oversight committee. Umakant,
Ramakant and Akhilesh Gundecha have been the only faculty although they are sometimes
assisted by senior students. Therefore all decisions are made only by the family.

Contrary to the official statement issued by the Sansthan, Akhilesh Gundecha did not step
down voluntarily. He was forced to leave the Gurukul due to pressure from the students and
the mounting evidence. At a meeting on 2nd September in which Akhilesh Gundecha was
present, and in the presence of other members of the Gundecha family, including Umakant
Gundecha, Akhilesh was directly accused of sexual harassment and abuse by several
resident students. Along with these accusations, there have been many others that have
been shared by ex-students from around the world via Facebook and on a closed and
anonymously created WhatsApp group. The allegations first came to light on this group.

Akhilesh Gundecha was forced to leave only because students had the courage to speak up.
Despite having prior knowledge of these happenings and his guilt being established due to
the evidence presented by students at the meeting, there has been no unconditional apology
issued by Akhilesh Gundecha or Umakant Gundecha.

In the official statement released by Dhrupad Sansthan, they also chose to ignore the
allegations of sexual harassment levied against the late Ramakant Gundecha.

The Sansthan has announced that an internal committee will be formed to look into these
allegations and present a report. But all the members of the committee were chosen entirely
by the Gundecha family and are individuals who are connected to the family or the Dhrupad
Sansthan. Requests for a completely independent committee were brushed aside citing the
credentials of the members already chosen. The final list of committee members was not
accepted by the survivors and other students but was still published in an official statement.
However, due to the mounting pressure from the students and the victims, the composition
of the committee is being relooked at.

The survivors and the students from around the world are demanding an unconditional
apology from Akhilesh and Umakant Gundecha. They need to accept that the Gundecha
family had prior knowledge about such cases of harassment and abuse, but took no action.
We also demand the dismissal of the current committee and the setting up of a new external
and independent committee, which is approved by the students that will look into these
allegations in an unbiased manner.