Women are speaking up and no one can stop them now. They have been angry for a while. When the systems and organizations failed them, they gathered every single ounce of courage that was left in them to come forward and name their abusers in public.
With a disproportionate power and lack of commitment from the organizations to provide justice to victims, women have been pushed to take matters in their own hands.
Women made it clear that they had enough and through multiple threads, on Twitter, they are naming and shaming the harassers in public to seek support from others who had similar experiences.
I For Her has collated some personal accounts of those who have made allegations of harassment, along with responses from those who have been accused of such behavior. But, it’s an ongoing process and we will hear more in the coming days. Here are top 4 news in “#MeToo” Movement that happened yesterday:
1. Chetan Bhagat
Indian author Chetan Bhagat has now been accused of sexual misconduct too. A woman shared a conversation with Chetan on Twitter where he was trying to woo her while she stuck to the fact that he’s kidding and he’s married.
And it goes on. Chetan Bhagat @chetan_bhagat pic.twitter.com/xyI9tSgfMc
— ???? Sheena (@weeny) October 6, 2018
Chetan Bhagat did share his apology to the person and his wife in his most recent post
[ifh_news_form]2. Queen’s Movie Director – Vikas Bahl
Last year, a woman employee at Phantom Films, which had Bahl as one of the partners alongside Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena, had leveled allegations of molestation against Bahl.
Bahl insisted on dropping the victim to her hotel room on the early hours of 5 May 2015 and pretended to pass out drunk on her bed, only to awaken soon after and masturbate on her.
According to the report, in October 2015, she reached out to Kashyap and detailed her experience, but almost two years would pass before her testimony was addressed with any degree of seriousness.
Meanwhile, Bahl harassed her until she finally quit the company in despair, she shared in a recent article in Huffpost India. the woman has reiterated the allegations, sharing further details about the incident. According to the report, in October 2015, the woman reached out to Kashyap and detailed her experience, but no action was taken while Bahl continued to harass her until she finally quit the company.
‘Queen’ Director Vikas Bahl sexually assaulted an employee of Phantom Films and they did nothing about it. Anurag Kashyap to HuffPost India he had failed the woman—3 years after he first learnt of the allegations. @aktalkies reports https://t.co/1I71SxSRtX
— HuffPost India (@HuffPostIndia) October 6, 2018
3. Times Of India Sr. Editor
Many women came forward to share their #MeToo moments against the senior editors of Times Of India.
Sandhya accused KR Sreenivas, who is currently a resident editor at the Times of India — Hyderabad, of inappropriately touching her when he was dropping her home one night in 2008. She filed a complaint with the HR department — who, in turn, informed Sreenivas about it.
She wrote on Twitter:
I went to the committee for sexual harassment at BCCL to figure out what i need to do and the woman who headed it (I forget her name) told me she knew Sreeni for a long time and it’s unlikely he’d do something like that.
— Sandhya Menon (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
She has also accused Gautam Adhikari, who was editor in chief of the Mumbai edition of DNA at the time of the incident. She says that after an evening outing when he was dropping her home, he forcibly kissed her and later warned her against telling anyone else that it happened.
One of these was posted by former journalist Pavitra Jayaraman, who was interning with the Bengaluru edition of Femina at the time. She bumped into Sreenivas in the neighborhood where she lived, and in the middle of the conversation they were having, he allegedly said to her, “Why don’t you come over sometime. My wife is not in town.”
4. AIB Comedian – Utsav
As reported by Firstpost, it all started with writer Mahima Kukreja calling out comedian Utsav Chakraborty for sending her a picture of his genitalia without consent.
She shared:
“This happened two years ago. I was new to the city (Mumbai). He sent me a dick pic. I told Tanmay Bhat and Kunal Kamra about it. Kamra alerted others of Utsav’s behavior. But AIB continued to give him work. A 17-year-old intern at OML had to quit because of workplace harassment. If people had held Utsav accountable for his behavior then, he would not have gone and harassed so many other women. I am myself mentally exhausted and in trauma reading account after account of women who are writing into me about his behavior. I’m glad people are talking about it”
Please read this. Utsav kept asking a 17-year-old girl, basically a child, to send pics of her breasts. Also when she was interning at OML she told her bosses about Utsav and they did nothing. People knew. She did not complete her internship.
My head is spinning. pic.twitter.com/qIA7MrnTX0
— Mahima Kukreja ????????✊???? (@AGirlOfHerWords) October 5, 2018
It is high time organizations stop failing the victims of sexual harassment. They need to put systems in place to check the misuse of power by their top leaders. And, if not then these organizations need to buckle up to hear more stories because women have just found their voice and they won’t stop now.
You Might Also Like:
https://www.iforher.com/shocking-she-was-on-her-periods-says-producer-of-horn-ok-please-to-dismiss-tanushrees-claims/