Nobody had perhaps expected it but the #MeToo campaign in India spilled out of social media conversations to become a gathering storm in the real world, one which seared Minister of State for External Affairs and former editor MJ Akbar, over mounting complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.
In the eye of a storm following corroboration and admissions by an unending stream of women journalists, there is increasing pressure on the Government to relieve him from his post. With the Opposition Congress raising a resignation demand, his boss, Union Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj was in a spot as mediapersons accosted her. Asked if there would be a probe, she refused comment and walked away.
Meanwhile, the ceaseless unspooling by complainants forced redressal mechanisms to crank themselves out of shape and take strong action. The two industries most affected by the confessions of abuse by men in power, the film industry and media, had an actionable plan in place almost overnight. The editors’ and film producers’ guilds called for unbiased enquiries, punishment, demolition of a system dependent on a hierarchical sense of entitlement and ensuring a safe, gender-neutral workspace.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women issued a notice to actor Nana Patekar, asking him to respond to actress Tanushree Dutta’s allegations of sexual harassment against him. This was the first complaint that has actually stirred up the current storm, with the list of serial offenders going up to 90. And the National Commission of Women started a spreadsheet process of compiling all cases of sexual complaints and revelations being made by women, cutting across sectors, and even reaching out to survivors through telephone.
All this on a day when a journalist even called out a Coal Ministry official for offering her a trip to Goa and a flight attendant named cricketer Arjun Ranatunga as groping her in a Mumbai hotel. Noting “with concern and dismay the incidence of alleged sexual harassment and assault on women journalists by their male colleagues,” the Editor’s Guild of India condemned predatory practices, particularly “when the perpetrators also happen to be enjoying senior or supervisory positions in the profession.”
Lauding women journalists who had shown courage to call out the abusers, the Editors’ Guild further said that the newsroom as a “relatively informal, free-spirited and hallowed space” must be protected. It urged all media organisations to hold unbiased enquiries into all reported cases and strengthen internal processes. “It includes training of staff and improving awareness, as mandated by the law and even beyond. Anybody found guilty of sexual harassment or assault should be punished as provided in the law.”
Two leading newspapers promptly ensured their senior editors stepped down. Prashant Jha quit as chief of bureau and political editor of Hindustan Times as the media house initiated allegations of sexual misconduct against him. And its rival Times of India’s Hyderabad editor KR Sreenivas was sent on “administrative leave” after seven women petitioned the daily to take action. Reports say the complainant journalists had accused Sreenivas of sending lewd messages, mentally torturing them and touching them inappropriately.
The film fraternity, too, extended its support to the movement to call out and report sexual harassment and announced a committee to vet these. “We believe that there is an urgent need to set up a robust process to ensure the highest standards of safety for employees and crew members at the workplace – whether in offices or on sets of productions. We are instituting a committee within the guild to lead this effort, and we are determined to stay the course till workplaces in the industry are safe spaces for everyone,” read an official statement from the Producers Guild of India.
A lot of skeletons tumbled out on the celebrity circuit with sanskaari actor Alok Nath, filmmaker and theatreperson Rajat Kapoor, filmmaker Vikas Bahl, singer Abhijeet and members of a comedy collective AIB being named and shamed. Among the three, Kapoor admitted to wrongdoing on Twitter and faced immediate penalty as the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image, the film body popularly known as MAMI, dropped the screening of his film Kadakh from their festival lineup. Actor Rajkumar Rao took Queen director Bahl to task, saying the industry should come together to protect everyone, be it men or women. He even refused to work with those not abiding by basic ethics. Something which actress Aishwarya Rai had done years ago. She walked out of a film by producer Gaurang Doshi after she came to know that he had brutalised and beaten up then junior artiste Flora Saini. Bahl was accused of wrongdoing by an employee of the now dissolved Phantom Films, the claims backed up by actress Kangana Ranaut.
However, actor Alok Nath, who was outed by scriptwriter and director Vinta Nanda, was non-chalant, claiming she might have been raped by somebody else and that he was actually instrumental in shaping her career. Not just undermining Nanda, Nath even tried to play down the #MeToo movement. Rather obnoxiously. Acknowledging that several incidents have come out in the open with the movement, he said the world was only getting to hear women’s side of the story “because they are considered weak. In such a situation, it would be wrong to say anything.”
The director of the popular serial Tara starring Navneet Nishant in a Facebook post recounted how he had raped her. In her account, Nanda described how her drinks were allegedly spiked at a party at Nath’s house almost a decade ago. She left the party around 2 am and was accosted midway by Nath who was driving his own car. She remembered more liquor being poured into her mouth and being violated endlessly. When she woke up the next afternoon, she was in pain. Later, she got a job to write and direct a series for Plus Channel and again her paths crossed with Nath who went to use his star power to influence to cast him in a show which Nanda was directing.
