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 Wednesday admits defamation charge against journalist Priya Ramani in a case filed by ex-Union minister M J Akbar after she levelled allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Ramani, who appeared before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, however, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial. Akbar, who resigned as Union minister on October 17 last year, filed a private criminal defamation complaint against Ramani after his name cropped up on social media as the #MeToo campaign raged on in India. Ramani accused Akbar of sexual misconduct, a charge denied by him. The court listed the matter for hearing on May 4 and also granted permanent exemption to Ramani from personal appearance. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

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 ...

When you see publishers and authors chatting chummily at book parties, you’re likely to think that they’re on the same side — the side of great literature and the free flow of ideas. In reality, their interests are at odds. Publishers are marketers. They don’t like scandals that might threaten their bottom line — or the bottom lines of the multinational media conglomerates of which most form a small part. Authors are people, often flawed. Sometimes they behave badly. How, for instance, should publishers deal with the # MeToo era , when accusations of sexual impropriety can lead to books being pulled from shelves and syllabuses, as happened last year with the novelists Junot Díaz and Sherman Alexie? One answer is the increasingly widespread “morality clause.” Over the past few years, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House have added such clauses to their standard book contracts.   Read More Business Standard

Actress Tanushree Dutta is rightly regarded as the founding-mother of the " MeToo Movement " in India. When she spoke on her experience of being harassed 10 years ago, she opened up the floodgates for numerous other women from every walk of life to come forward with their stories. But now, Tanushree is done. She is all set to return to the US, and refuses to take credit for starting the " MeToo Movement " in India. "The media is just making a heroine out of an ordinary person's organic journey. I was not the doer but just a conduit and a vessel through which some change or awareness had to come about in society," she said. Not that she is distancing herself completely from the movement. "In a way, I needed retribution too from the incident that pushed me back several years in my professional life." But now it's time for her to return to routine life in the US. Read More Business Standard

Actor Preity Zinta , who has been receiving backlash for her views on # MeToo movement , released her statement on the movement and aplogised for unintentionally hurting sentiments of people. In her statement, the 'Kal Ho Naa Ho' star said, "I am a huge supporter of the movement and its unfortunate that some of my comments were taken out of context. I recognise that everyone is in a position to fight back and I don't want to marginalise the women that have been abused." Referring to her own # MeToo experience , Preity said that it also happened to her and she reacted to it strongly. "My reason for saying this 'I wish something like this would have happened to me, I would have reacted to it and much layer, when it did happen, I did react and the whole world saw it," she stated. The #MeToo movement, which began in Hollywood more than a year ago, gathered steam in India after actor Tanushree Dutta accused co-star Nana Patekar of alleg...

Actor Preity Zinta , who has been receiving backlash for her views on # MeToo movement , has said she is "surprised and upset" that her recent comments have been taken out of context. In a recent interview, the ' Kal Ho Naa Ho ' star was asked if she had ever personally experienced any sort of harassment, to which she reportedly said, "No, I haven't, I wish I had. (laughs) Atleast, then, I would have had an answer to tell you. No and that's what I am saying that this is very relevant question because people treat you the way you want to be treated." A 'disappointed' Preity tweeted on Monday to clear her stance and claimed that the interview was edited "to sound controversial for better traction." She also slammed the journalist for doing so. "Really sad to see how the interview is edited to trivialise and be insensitive. Not everything is traction & as someone being interviewed I expected decency & matu...

It was a seemingly harmless tweet that enraged Mahima Kukreja and put the 28-year-old on the frontline of India’s # MeToo firestorm . The advertising professional was on her way to work Oct. 4 when she saw a message from popular comedian Utsav Chakraborty, who has a television show and nearly 50,000 Twitter followers, about a recent incident of Indian men behaving badly on a cruise ship in Australia, which he said was an “ embarrassment ” to fellow citizens. Wasn’t this the same person who’d sent her an unsolicited photograph of a penis two years ago? “I was like, ‘this is a man standing on some moral high ground after harassing me,” Kukreja recalled during an interview at a Mumbai cafe. “At that moment, I wasn’t thinking of consequences. I thought: ‘This is it. I’m just going to come out with my story.” She replied to his tweet with her allegations. Chakraborty issued a public apology within hours, in which he admitted to sending such photographs to several women and ...

Actress-filmmaker Nandita Das , whose father -- artist Jatin Das -- has been accused of sexually harassing a woman, says while she will continue to add voice to the # MeToo movement , she believes the truth will prevail in the "disturbing allegations" against the Padma Bhushan recipient. "As a strong supporter of the #MeToo movement, I want to reiterate that I will continue to add my voice to it, despite the disturbing allegations made against my father, which he has categorically denied," Nandita posted on Facebook. "I have maintained from the very start that this is the time we all need to listen, so that women (and men) feel safe to speak up. At the same time, it is also important to be sure about allegations so as not to dilute the movement. I am touched by the number of people - friends and strangers - who are concerned and are trusting my integrity. I do believe truth will prevail. And that is all I have to say on this matter," she added...