Who is accountable for teacher-student relationships?
As a new student at Kathmandu University's Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in 2014, Mukta, 25 then, thought she must be doing something good when her teacher singled her out for attention.
Her teacher was Sujan Chitrakar, then 40, the senior-most faculty, and a celebrated artist. Chitrakar has taught many contemporary Nepali artists and played an important role in establishing what is now KU’s Department of Art and Design (pictured).
In between messages to Mukta about schoolwork, he texted to say he missed her or that she looked beautiful. She recalls being taken aback by a particular text that said: ‘I’m going for a bath. Do you want to see me?’
This was immediately followed with a cartoonish drawing with ‘Nude’ written next to it.
Mukta awkwardly replied with a laugh, unsure how else to respond to such a message from her teacher, whom everyone placed on a pedestal.
During Mukta’s first year in school, she says Chitrakar continued to shower her with gifts, asked her out for coffee, and insisted on driving her around. Once, when she was on his motorcycle returning home from university, Mukta remembers Chitrakar asking her to kiss him on his shoulder.
When she refused, he apologised profusely, then asked if she was trying to seduce him. Seeing how shocked Mukta was, the teacher grabbed her hand and rubbed it against his chest, saying it was just a joke.
A few weeks later, Chitrakar told Mukta that he couldn’t live without her and that they should be in a relationship. Having only looked up to him as a teacher, Mukta was uncertain about her feelings.
When the earthquake struck in 2015, Chitrakar came to check on Mukta, and with her guards down, she felt perhaps his love was genuine. She didn’t doubt if she was safe with him.
A decade later, still reeling from psychological trauma and career setbacks because of the relationship, Mukta is breaking her silence, accusing Chitrakar of abusing his power and grooming her. He had the duty of teaching and evaluating her, instead, Mukta says he used her for sex and emotional support from 2015 to 2019, while she was a student at KU.
DEFAMATION SUIT
She has been urging KU and art institutions to safeguard its students against sexual misconduct, but Chitrakar slammed a defamation lawsuit against her in January 2025 stating she damaged his reputation over what he described in court filings as a "consensual relationship”.
Earlier this week, the Kathmandu District court ruled that Chitrakar’s defamation claim could not be proven.
We asked Chitrakar after the verdict about his conduct. His reply: “I’m sorry for the students who felt uncomfortable, but I did my duty well and good. It is ungrateful of the students to say that. Not everyone has to like me.”
In answer to a query about his stance on intimate relationship between staff and student, he said: “For me it is a big no to date a student. Consequences arise and I am facing them now. Many staff-student intimate relations, including in my department, have ended in happy marriages. It’s a choice based on their personal and social ethics, and something to be determined by university policy.”
Chitrakar said he now draws personal and professional boundaries with students, and says his relationship was not planned. He added, “Regardless of being a teacher I should not have dated a student because I'm a married man. If I was unmarried it would have been ok.
While there is no definitive data on sexual misconduct in Nepal, interviews with more than 23 faculty and students from KU and TU for this story reveal that intimate staff-student relations are normalised, and in some cases even encouraged.
Studies also suggest that sexual harassment is rampant in higher education in Nepal. The lack of university policies, power imbalance between staff and students, fear of retaliation, breaches of confidentiality, and the protection of perpetrators all contribute to impunity for sexual misconduct.
Indeed, after students alleged sexual harassment, bullying, and homophobia against Yubaraj Sangroula of Kathmandu School of Law, and other faculty members in March 2025, the university filed slander lawsuits targeting a student whistleblower and alumni. Sangroula is contesting as an independent candidate in next week’s election from Jhapa-2.
Seven years after complaints surfaced against retired lecturer Krishna Bhattachan for sexually harassing women students, Tribhuvan University, the government run institution, is still drafting its own policy and complaint procedure.
And noted sculptor and former KU faculty member Gopal Kalapremi is yet to appear at Kathmandu District Court, after he was issued a summon on sexual harassment charges in 2024.
Nepal’s Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention) Act (2014) and the National Criminal (Code) Act, 2017 both forbid sexual relations with anyone under one’s care or receiving one’s professional services, such as in education. These laws are binding on all educational institutions, even if they do not have internal policies.
While sexual misconduct can constitute harassment, inappropriate comments or gestures, unsolicited sexual advances, adult ‘grooming’ often goes unrecognised because of its subtle nature. It occurs between individuals with unequal power, such as a faculty and students. This not only compromises on genuine consent because of the traditional respect for teachers in Nepal but also violates professional ethics of academia.
Adult grooming involves a series of ‘boundary-blurring’ behaviour that starts with building the victim’s trust through attention, flattery, or sharing personal details. It gradually escalates to testing how they respond to sexual communication. Once perpetrators are confident the victim will not speak up, they initiate sexual contact and maintain control.
“Had he said outright, ‘I want to have sex with you,’ it would’ve been easier to identify his actions as red flags,” says Mukta, now 36.
Mukta alleges that Chitrakar took her to his studio in his home and made sexual advances. She shoved him away but she recalls him saying, “Even if you’re saying no, I know you’ll like it. Trust me.” Not wanting to make a fuss, she gave in.
This set a pattern for their relationship for the next four years, during which Mukta said he frequently made her comply with his sexual desires. Chitrakar is said to have confided in Mukta about how he was sexually frustrated in his marriage. Every time he argued with his wife, Mukta says he made her listen in on the call.
Chitrakar would urge Mukta to spend all her time with him, and recalls: “He would be upset for days if I went out for lunch or to exhibitions with friends.” Feeling guilty, she would then spend all her free time with him. If anyone enquired about their relationship, Mukta repeated what Chitrakar had instructed her to say: “This is my personal life. I’m an adult and I make my own decisions”. This kept others from interfering. Over time, Mukta’s friends started avoiding her, calling her “Sujan Sir’s girlfriend”.
When faculty sleep with their students, Amia Srinivasan, author of the book Right to Sex, states that the student is transformed in the eyes of the academic community as a whole: “She can no longer relate to other professors as her teachers but as her boyfriend’s judgmental colleagues.” Peers then attribute her achievements to the sexual relationship with the teacher.
Right after completing her undergraduate, Mukta joined KU as a visiting faculty on Chitrakar’s request so they could continue to spend time together. But soon after, in August 2019, he abruptly ended their four years long relationship.
Mukta felt Chitrakar needed space because of his marital problems and tried to support him as he had asked in the past, and sent him consoling messages. But when she learnt that Chitrakar was involved with another undergraduate student, she started to understand what he had done to her. Unable to face anyone, she described feeling suicidal.
Many student survivors have shared that it takes years for the full impact of those intimate relationships to reveal itself. “Even if they felt it was consensual at that time, as they gain some distance, they often become aware of the power imbalance, and realise that the situation was harmful for them,” sexual harassment researcher Anna Bull of the University of York told Nepali Times.
Another student who graduated in the early 20s said Chitrakar caressed her back and thighs whenever he sat on her scooter. She was 20 at the time, and recalls: “He would ask me to give him a ride because he had back pain and couldn’t drive his motorcycle. But he would be very touchy-feely throughout. I ignored the warning signs because he’s a respectable person and couldn’t possibly have bad intentions.”
Another survivor, also a former student in her early 20s then described Chitrakar as “dangerously manipulative”. She said he sent her inappropriate texts and offensive photos. Despite saying she was not comfortable with it, Chitrakar is said to have continued pursuing her, affecting her mental health and professional life.
Mukta’s classmate, now 32, says there were other teachers at KU involved in sexual misconduct. “Since he was senior-most faculty, what he did gave license for other teachers to do the same,” he said. “It made us feel very uncomfortable to watch him date our classmate but we had no one to complain to.” He added that older male teachers dating younger women students was a pattern in the university.
A former teacher at the KU art department said, “Several faculty members dating students would message me to say that their girlfriends, who were also my students, were running late for class. This meant I couldn’t mark them as late.” However, the teacher said it was pointless to complain.
Speaking to Nepali Times, a current faculty of the KU art school said he sees no issue if a teacher-student relationship ends in marriage. “If they truly love each other, I don’t have any problem with that, many students and teachers are married. But if the teacher is married and is lying, flirting or hurting the student then it’s wrong,” he added.
Says Rajib Timalsina, a faculty at Tribhuvan University, “I’m unmarried and people tell me to find a decent student to get married to. They see all master’s students as adults and don’t talk about power dynamics and consent.”
Back at KU, some faculties who saw Chitrakar dating Mukta dismissed it as a personal matter between two consenting adults. Those who raised ethical or professional concerns were often shut down by colleagues as engaging in idle gossip.
Another faculty member teaching at the art school says, “Even if I complained, he is a big name and the art community is very tight knit and quiet about it, so nothing will happen to him.”
THE LAW
The law is clear. Nepal’s Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention) Act (2014) was enacted in November 2014 to prevent and address sexual harassment at workplaces, including educational institutions, banning intimate relationships between teachers and students. The National Criminal (Code) Act, 2017 also forbids such relationships.
Advocate Indu Tuladhar said, “Section 222 and 223 clearly state that you cannot have sex with someone who is under your protection or security, where you have a duty of care. It also adds that you cannot have sex with someone who is receiving your professional service.”
She added, “Even if a student is over 18, it’s not truly consensual because the teacher is providing a professional service of education and the student, the weaker party, is coming to seek education. The responsibility here is on the teacher to teach, and protect the student, not pursue them.”
The Supreme Court set a landmark precedent in 2019 recognising the role of power differences in determining ‘consent’ when Justices Sapana Pradhan Malla and Purushottam Bhandari ruled that there cannot be free “consent” when there is an unequal power relation between the victim and the perpetrator.
The Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention) Act (2014)’s Section 6 and 7 require universities to establish mechanisms to address complaints, including forming an internal committee to investigate and resolve cases by a certain timeframe.
When Mukta learned during a reflective session at an arts workshop in 2023 that what had happened to her was still happening to others at the art school , she decided to speak up because “there’s nothing protecting the students.”
In 2024, Mukta, some artists, and other KU alumni, had a confidential meeting at the KU School of Arts with the leadership including Dean of the School of Education Bal Chandra Luitel calling for a policy on sexual misconduct.
Mukta says Dean Luitel breached confidentiality and divulged private details of the complaint in an email to Chitrakar.
Mukta and several other artists also met in confidence with Sangeeta Thapa of Siddhartha Arts Foundation and member of the Masters in Fine Arts subject committee at KU, and who organises the Kathmandu Triennale. Chitrakar at the time was co-artistic director for the Triennale.
Thapa emailed Chitrakar seeking clarification about the abuse, and is said to have disclosed that it was Mukta who had made the allegations of sexual misconduct. This put Mukta at risk of retaliation and further harm.
The two emails from Luitel and Thapa, were provided as evidence by Chitrakar in a defamation lawsuit at Kathmandu District Court against Mukta and another KU alumna whom Luitel had named in his email.
Responding to Nepali Times after the defamation case, the artist named in the lawsuit said, “I felt extremely unsafe. I never imagined that a discussion centered on securing safety for students and staff would be used as evidence in a defamation lawsuit. And the person breaching confidentiality was the Dean himself.”
Defamation litigations are often used as tools to silence, intimidate, and shame survivors while draining them emotionally and financially. It discourages people from speaking up and weakens the collective support survivors receive from allies. Indeed, after Chitakar filed the defamation case another survivor, a former student who had accused Chitrakar of sexual misconduct, declined to be part of this investigation.
In the lawsuit, Chitrakar admitted he had been in a romantic relationship with Mukta who was a student at KU. He added that while they were together ‘whatever conversations and acts that take place between lovers, happened…’
Nepali Times questioned the Dean of School of Arts, Uddhab Pyakurel, about the breach of confidentiality from the school and how it might affect other survivors. “We realise one must be very sensitive. And that is why we have developed a guideline that focuses on creating a safe environment for survivors to open up,” he said.
He said that the school had finalised the guidelines but were yet to endorse it. “Staff-student intimate relationships are prohibited in our code of conduct. It is not acceptable in academia,” he added. In the meantime, the school has requested to submit any grievances in writing to the office of Dean.
Speaking to Nepali Times, the spokesperson for Siddhartha Arts Foundation said, “All of us felt unsettled when we heard the allegations. We do not condone people who abuse their power. In hindsight we could have just listed the allegations instead of naming the survivor and attendees. This was a big lesson for us. We need to step back, retreat, reevaluate. We want to repair so much. That’s the only way.”
The absence of reporting mechanisms, breach of confidentiality, and inadequate institutional response to sexual misconduct push survivors and their allies to seek justice on their own. Former students, peers, and even donors of KU have reportedly been alerting the art community in private about Chitrakar for years.
Wary of how such warnings are stigmatised as gossip or framed as attempts to ruin Chitrakar’s and KU’s reputation, they relied on ‘whisper network’, a grassroots resistance method against powerful systems that enable sexual predators.
Among them is Stefanie Lotter from SOAS University of London who organised the 2022 international summer school ‘Introducing Documentation and Archiving of Heritage in Nepal’, where Chitrakar was a lecturer.
She had been warned about the allegations against him, and told Nepali Times: “I watched his interactions with students closely, and I took a student aside when I overheard that he had asked her if she wanted a ride back in his car.”
She added: “Professional boundaries exist for a reason. Having sexual predators in a teaching environment is catastrophic. As a young female academic, you must know you are valued for your academic contributions and not your looks.
The last thing you want from a lecturer is sexualised attention, as it is both an ethical and pedagogical failure and not only harms your career, but also affects your relationships with fellow students, who may start to see you differently.”
Eight women artists from Nepal and abroad interviewed for this story said they dropped out or declined projects when they learnt Chitrakar was part of them.
“I was eager to show something in Kathmandu Triennale, but that meant reaching out to Chitrakar and having some kind of relationship with him. Given his history of dating his student, I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. It’s so unfortunate and scary at the same time,” said an artist who was also Chitrakar’s student .
Since Mukta opened up, many in the arts community have questioned why these concerns went unaddressed for so long, holding meetings and seeking legal advice on how to push for policies and accountability measures within their institutions.
“A lot of these things are happening quietly behind the scenes, but we need to find ways to talk about harassment and abuse of power openly and honestly,” says NayanTara Gurung Kakshapati of Photo Circle.
“How to ensure everyone feels safe and respected? That is the end goal.”
Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of the survivors.
Subeksha Poudel is a freelance journalist working on social justice issues.
SPOT AND STOP GROOMING
1. EDUCATE
Regular conversations and training on identifying grooming tactics, nuances of consent, and unlearning unconscious biases such as victim blaming and normalisation of misconduct is needed.
2. ESTABLISH BOUNDARIES
Universities must define what is professional behaviour. Sexual misconduct begins with seemingly benign boundary-blurring behaviours.
3. ZERO TOLERANCE
Universities need to classify grooming as sexual misconduct, have a zero tolerance policy against staff dating students and clearly state consequences for staff who violate the policies. Institutions should also be held accountable through transparent processes, regular public reporting, and enforcement of policies.
4. EVALUATION
Faculty performance reviews should assess not only teaching, but also their role in fostering a safe, respectful, and inclusive learning environment. Sexual misconduct or enabling behaviour should be factors in evaluation.
5. OPTIONS
Institutions should provide options of formal and informal channels for reporting sexual misconduct, allowing students and bystanders to find language to describe their experiences, discuss concerns, learn about actions they can take without launching an official investigation.
6. RESOURCES
Free mental health and legal counselling should be offered both on and off campus for anyone reporting misconduct. Support should include practical assistance like accompanying survivors to police stations and attending court hearings if needed.
7. COMMITTEE
An internal complaints committee should be formed to include elected members that are committed to gender issues, have legal knowledge and represent their own community such as the student body. The committee should also include an external expert to ensure the process is unbiased.
8. STUDENT LEADERSHIP
Students must play an active role, from policy development that centers their needs to collecting feedback from survivors after investigations conclude.