Sexual harassment in India's media, entertainment, advertising industries; academics
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#MeToo storm gathers force: More biggies fall by wayside, October 9, 2018: The Times of India
2017
Raya Sarkar’s list of predators in academics
Social media divided over lawyer #RayaSarkar's Facebook post naming academics as sexual harassers
By Online Desk
Raya Sarkar, an Indian lawyer based in the United States, put out a list on her Facebook page, naming and shaming academicians who have been accused of sexual harassment by students.
As several feminists were quick to put out a statement condemning making allegations publicly by naming and shaming people, a response by a Facebook profile named Inji Pennu tagging Raya Sarkar, explained that due diligence was done before making the list public. Inji Pennu’s post said the list was compiled from first-person accounts of women who came forward to speak up, and where the victim wanted to remain anonymous, a friend stood in as alibi. Besides, they had collected data in the form of screenshots, WhatsApp messages, e-mails and call recordings.
Here is the list of colleges in which the alleged sexual harassers worked or continue to work.
1) Jadavpur University, Kolkata
2) Delhi University, New Delhi
3) University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii (US)
4) Ambedkar University, Delhi (AUD)
5) Centre for Studies in Social Sciences (CSSS), Kolkata
6) Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi)
7) Film and Television Institute (FTII), Pune
8) Ashoka University, Sonipat, Haryana
9) Institute of Rural Management Anand (IIRMA), Gujarat
10) St Xavier's College, Kolkata
11) Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata
12) Atomic Energy Higher Secondary Central School, Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu
13) TERI University, New Delhi
14) Scottish Church College, Kolkata
15) University of California, Santa Cruz
16) University of Cambridge
17) Presidency University, Calcutta
18) University of Trier, Germany
19) DY Patil University, Mumbai
20) Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Off-Campus, Tuljapur, Osmanabad dist, Maharashtra
21) Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai
22) University of California, Riverside, California, United States
23) English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad
24) Ramjas College, Delhi University
25) Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata
26) National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi
27) Music Academy, Chennai
28) Hindu College, Delhi University
29) National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore
30) St John's Medical College, Bangalore
31) Christ University, Bangalore
32) Sri Venkateshwara college, Delhi University
33) Oxford University (in this case a student, not a professor)
34) St Joseph’s College, Bangalore
2018
Allegations of sexual harassment continued to roil the media and entertainment industry on Monday. Comedy group All India Bakchod (AIB), best known for parodies on politics, culture and society, announced on Monday that founder Tanmay Bhat had stepped aside. Bhat admitted he had ignored allegations of abuse against stand-up comedian Utsav Chakraborty and allowed him to continue producing content.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
Next, actor-filmmaker Rajat Kapoor apologised for verbal misconduct after he was called out by two women, a journalist and an assistant film director. Another #Me-Too moment came with directors Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane saying sorry for having taken limited action against director Vikas Bahl, who was a partner at the now defunct Phantom Pictures. Bahl is accused of molesting a subordinate in a hotel room in 2015.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
The face-off between Nana Patekar and Tanushree Dutta too continued to play out; Patekar cited legal advice to cancel a scheduled press conference to rebut allegations of sexual harassment by Dutta. The Times of India on Monday sent a senior journalist on administrative leave pending the closure of an inquiry into allegations against him. Allegations have been levelled against journalists at a number of national papers and media outlets.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
M.J. Akbar
One of the most high profile men to be accused is M.J. Akbar, the current minister of state for external affairs and a former journalist. Multiple women have come on record to accuse Akbar of harassment and inappropriate behavior. He has not commented on the allegations and an official from the Ministry of External Affairs said it had no comment when contacted by TIME. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
Vikas Bahl
After Bahl’s former colleagues at Phantom Pictures, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramditya Motwane, went public to express regret for not having taken action against him, actor Hrithik Roshan, who is working under Bahl’s baton for the upcoming film ‘Super 30’, too reacted. He said, “It is impossible for me to work with any person if he/ she is guilty of such grave misconduct.”(‘‘The Times of India’’)
Phantom’s team announced the company’s closure on Saturday. Kashyap said the film industry was extremely ill equipped to handle allegations of sexual harassment. Actor Kangana Ranaut, who had worked under Vikas Bahl’s direction in the film ‘Queen’, endorsed allegations of misdemeanour against him. However, her statement was dismissed by Sonam Kapoor who felt one could not always take Kangana seriously.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
Chetan Bhagat
Another prominent name is Chetan Bhagat, a leading author who featured on the TIME 100 list in 2010. Screenshots of inappropriate messages sent by Bhagat to a woman some years ago have been shared on social media. Bhagat did not respond to TIME’s email but has verified the messages in a Facebook post, in which he also apologized, saying “I should have had better judgement.” (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
Tanmay Bhat
A comedienne had accused his colleague Utsav Chakraborty of sending unsolicited nude pictures of himself and demanding hers in return. This accusation had prompted several other women to also speak up. After this, Bhat announced that he was stepping away from his association with AIB till further notice. Bhat’s fellow founder at AIB Gursimran Khamba was also sent on leave for alleged sexual misconduct. The future of the group is now mired in uncertainty.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
Utsav Chakraborty
On Oct. 4, a young Indian writer by the name of Mahima Kukreja tweeted that a popular, Mumbai-based comedian, Utsav Chakraborty, had once sent her an unsolicited photo of his penis. Other women responded by sharing stories of similar behavior from Chakraborty and Kukreja began tweeting screenshots of the messages she received (while blurring out the names of the accusers). She kicked off a firestorm. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
By the time Chakraborty apologized a day later, scores of Indian women — many of them journalists — had taken to Twitter to detail their experiences of sexual harassment and violation at the hands of senior figures in the media and entertainment industries and, in one case, a government official. The repercussions in recent days have included public apologies, resignations, and the sudden closure of a prominent Bollywood production house after one of its co-founders was accused of sexual assault. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
The upcoming Mumbai Film Festival has meanwhile announced that it will not show films involving some of the men who have been accused in recent days, while streaming service Hotstar has cancelled the production of a new season of the show On Air with AIB — the comedy group with which Chakraborty was associated. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
Rajat Kapoor
Actor Rajat Kapoor was also called out for alleged sexual harassment with two women accusing him of inappropriate behaviour. Kapoor apologised for “having slipped” and said, “All my life I have tried to be a decent man, to do the right thing. If however, I have slipped and through my actions or words caused pain or hurt or trauma to absolutely anybody, please accept my apology.”
Sandhya Menon accuses three editors
“I wish there was a nicer way to drive the point home for men but they don’t listen,” says Bengaluru-based journalist Sandhya Menon, who took to Twitter in Kukreja’s wake to accuse three different editors at leading daily papers of touching her, texting her inappropriate comments, and forcibly kissing her when she worked with them in the past. (The latter editor, Gautam Adhikari, told TIME that he had “no recollection at all of these incidents from many years ago.” The first two have, respectively, gone on administrative leave and kept silent.) (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
Things have been slowly changing, however. There have been isolated, though important, instances of women taking workplace harassers to court; one, involving the former head of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, could prove to be a watershed case. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
Nana Patekar
Then, in September, actress Tanushree Dutta accused film veteran Nana Patekar of misconduct with her on a film set in 2008. (Patekar has denied the allegation; Dutta has filed a police complaint.) The case sparked an outpouring of other #MeToo allegations on social media. Now Kukreja’s tweet has started a fresh wave and prompted the compilation of a list — consolidated from stories across social media platforms and shared as a Google spreadsheet — with more than 80 men on it, many of them prominent. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
The actor cancelled Monday’s scheduled press conference where he was to address allegations made by Tanushree Dutta. But he briefly met reporters outside his residence in Mumbai’s Andheri West, where he again termed her accusation a lie. “I said this 10 years ago too. What was true then remains true today. My legal team has asked me not to speak. Otherwise why will I not talk to you all,” he said. “I will follow what my lawyer has said. So please pardon me.”(‘‘The Times of India’’)
Meanwhile, Dutta’s lawyer said she was out of town and expected to return to Mumbai on Tuesday. Thereafter, she would record her statement before Oshiwara police. He added that two other victims who were eyewitnesses to the incident, would also present their statement.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
The Cine and TV Artists Association (CINTAA) offered to address Dutta’s sexual harassment allegation against Patekar “by conducting a fair and expeditious inquiry”. The body had earlier admitted it failed to take up the matter when she complained to them in 2008. CINTAA is also keen to hear Patekar’s version.(‘‘The Times of India’’)
The Hindustan Times
Responses from several companies and organizations has been swift, especially from newsrooms, where many instances of sexually inappropriate behavior are alleged to have taken place. The Times of India, Quint and the Hindustan Times have set up internal investigations, while HuffPost India has voiced its support for women accusing two former employees of inappropriate conduct. Prashant Jha, a bureau chief at the Hindustan Times, stepped down after allegations were made against him and Mayank Jain, a reporter with Business Standard, resigned after being accused. (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
The Hindustan Times also announced it would hold mandatory weekly workshops on sexual harassment. All of this represents a seismic shift in media workplace attitudes. As recently as 2013, a managing editor was accused of trying to downplay sexual assault accusations made against a senior journalist at the publication Tehelka. (That editor vigorously denies any attempted hush-up and the journalist is currently facing trial.) (Kamakshi Ayyar | TIME)
See also
Rapes in India<> Rapes in India: court verdicts <> Rape definitions unique to India<> Rapes in India: the legal position after 2013<> <>Rapes in India: Compensation and help for survivors <> Rapes in India: annual statistics
Sexual harassment in India's media, entertainment, advertising industries
