Heena Sharma Blog

In October 2018, almost a year to the day after the # MeToo movement erupted in the US around film producer Harvey Weinstein, allegations of sexual harassment and assault flooded India. Women began recounting tales from years or even decades earlier, often at great risk to their reputations and safety. For five of India’s most prominent accusers, the price has been steep. A young victim of alleged rape by a lawmaker attempted to burn herself outside the residence of her state's chief minister, after her father died in police custody. A high-profile journalist has been sued for defamation by the man she accused. Another journalist says she has had trouble finding work. And a Bollywood actress says she feels her allegations led to real change in India, though the fallout since she first made them more than a decade ago contributed to her decision to relocate to the US, exhausted. As for the accused men, some have remained in their jobs. Others said their reputations and car...

A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to journalist Priya Ramani , who was summoned as an accused in a defamation case filed by former Union minister M J Akbar after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal granted the bail on a bond of Rs 10,000. The court had earlier directed Ramani to appear before it after noting that the allegations made against Akbar were "prima facie defamatory" and he denied all the accusations as "false and imaginary". Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct around 20 years ago when he was a journalist. He has denied the accusations. His name cropped up on social media as the # MeToo campaign raged on in India last year. Akbar, who resigned from the Union Council of Ministers on October 17, was in Nigeria when his name came up. Multiple women came out with accounts of alleged sexual harassment by him when he was a journalist. Read More Article Sou...

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) does not consider all complaints when it comes disclosure of sexual harassment complaints. Business Standard wrote to Irdai for data on sexual harassment complaints through an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. Of the three financial regulators that we reach out to, Irdai was the promptest in providing the data, without any need for subsequent appeals. However, there were certain mismatches between the annual report figures, and those provided in the RTI reply. (See Chart -1 Complaints at IRDAI) “ The discrepancies referred by you about the information provided under RTI and the annual reports are due to the time lag between the complaint filed with ICC (internal complaints committee), recommendations of the ICC sent to the HR department, final action taken, and the publication of the information in annual report according to timelines given by the department concerned,” said Irdai ...