A day after the National Commission for Women (NCW) sought an explanation from Salman Khan for his “felt like a raped woman” remark, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) on Wednesday summoned the Bollywood actor to appear before it at 2 pm on June 29 and offer his personal explanation over his remark.
Invoking the section 10 (2) of Maharashtra State Commission for Women Act, 1993 under which it has powers to summon a person from any part of the state and examine him on oath, the MSCW issued summons to Salman to appear before it at its Bandra office in north-west Mumbai.
Confirming the issuance of notice to Salman, MSCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told The Pioneer in the evening, “Yes. Taking suo motu cognisance of a controversy over the actor’s remark which we find it both “insulting” and “defamatory” towards women, we have served summons on the actor to appear before the commission at 2 pm on June 29”.
Despite continued clamour from various women organisations for an apology from Salman for his remark that he felt like a “raped woman” after a gruelling shoot of a wrestling bout for his forthcoming film Sultan, the 50-year-old actor had till Wednesday evening not tendered his apology for his questionable remark which has caused public furore across the country.
At a time when Bollywood bigwigs have by and large chosen not to condemn Salman for his controversial comment, the national award-winning actress Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday displayed courage to call spade a spade, when she condemned the “insensitive” rape analogy used by the actor.
Interacting with media persons at the launch of Shirish Kunder’s short film Kriti, Kangana said, “We all agree that it is a horrible thing to say, it is something which is extremely insensitive”.
“But what I would like to say is let’s not encourage the mentality where we want to point fingers at each other and want to feel greater by just running people down by trolling them...As a society we have to take responsibility... It is disgraceful to the whole society and not an individual,” Kangana said.
In the audio recording of an interview that he gave to a Bollywood website as part of the promotion of his flim Sultan which is due to release on July 6, Salman had said that the shooting of wrestling bouts was so gruelling that he felt like a “raped woman” while he would walk out of the ring after the shoot.
“While shooting, during those six hours, there’d be so much of lifting and thrusting on the ground involved. That was tough for me because if I was lifting, I’d have to lift the same 120-kilo guy 10 times for 10 different angles. And likewise, get thrown that many times on the ground. This act is not repeated that many times in the real fights in the ring... “When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldn’t walk straight,” the actor said in the interview.
Taking suo motu cognizance of Salman “irresponsible and callous” remark, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had on Tuesday shot off a letter to the actor seeking his explanation in seven days and also warning him that he would be summoned before the commission if failed to provide a satisfactory explanation.
Talking to media persons, NCW Chief described the actor’s remark as “irresponsible”, “callous” and it showed and showed the actor’s “regressive mindset”.
“We have taken suo moto cognisance. We have sent him a letter asking for explanation in seven days. We have said that he should give a public apology,” NCW Chief lalitha Kumaramangalam said.
“It’s not only a wrong statement, it’s very irresponsible and callous for a man whose fame and wealth is based on the adoration of his female fans...He has extrapolated patriarchal mindset....”I think this is not the first time that he has made statements that the public gets angry about,” Kumaramangalam said.
The NCW chief said if the actor failed to give a satisfactory response, he would have to appear before the commission.