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...

For decades Gillette has been selling razors using the slogan “the best a man can get”. This week the Procter & Gamble-owned brand has adopted “the best a man can be” as part of a marketing campaign meant to challenge toxic masculinity. Explicitly aligning itself with the # metoo movement , the message is that men have to change if we want to end sexual harassment, bullying and domestic violence. The campaign’s centrepiece, a 108-second “short film”, has divided opinion. Among those to declare their contempt for Gillette’s “virtue signalling” is the British television presenter Piers Morgan, who has labelled the advert “man-hating” and part of a “war on masculinity”. On the other side, those lauding Gillette include Glamour magazine contributor Helen Wilson-Beevers, who has praised the video as a “self-assured piece of advertising that Gillette should be proud of”. Read More Business Standard

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

In the wake of the # MeToo movement , almost 80 per cent of men have become overly cautious in their interactions with women colleagues, according to a report. The study by market research and analysis company Velocity MR, which had over 2,500 respondents across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Chennai, noted that eight out of 10 people said that formal workplace interactions have been highly impacted as a result of the movement . It found that close to 80 per cent of the respondents said fear of losing their career, family reputation, social stigma, and scepticism could be some of the reasons for the victims not reporting the cases earlier. Also, around 70 per cent of the respondents agreed that even after reporting the cases, victims still face threats. The study further observed that close to 50 per cent of the respondents disapproved of victims reporting the abuse later, while two in five males supported the victims saying they are right in repo...

A former Tata Group executive has alleged that the salt-to-software conglomerate did not hear her pleas against sexual harassment she faced at the hands of a CEO of a group firm, a charge that the group denied saying it always took "decisive action on evidence of inappropriate conduct." Writing for a leading English daily, Anjuli Pandit, a former executive assistant to ex-MD & CEO of Taj Hotels , Rakesh Sarna, claimed she reached out to Taj board members, Tata Group Executive Council members, the chairman and the senior-most HR official with her complaint against Sarna. "The only resolution they could find was to ask me to resign from Taj, immediately," she wrote, adding she "lost trust in Taj's process" as the company's Internal Complaint Committee, comprised "Sarna, four people within two reporting lines of him and an external member from one of Tata's closest law firms". Responding to queries on the issue, a T...

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...

Union minister M J Akbar , facing charges of sexual harassment that go back to his time as newspaper editor, has not only refused to step down but insinuated that the approaching Lok Sabha elections had a bearing on the allegations. Speaking on Sunday after his return from his official visit abroad, he said he would take legal action against the women who had alleged sexual harassment by him. Akbar’s holding out, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said, stemmed from the seeming support he received from the party leadership. However, the sources also said Akbar was likely to be dropped as minister. Though there is little political cost to the BJP if Akbar goes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has had a track record since his time as chief minister of Gujarat of backing his ministers even when they have faced criminal charges and have been chargesheeted. For the time, Akbar has been given an opportunity to defend himself, party sources said. Read Complete Article ...

Actor Sandhya Mridul has opened up about her alleged sexual harassment at the hands of Alok Nath during the shooting of a telefilm, days after writer-producer Vinta Nanda accused him of rape. The actor, best known for her work in 1990-2000's TV shows such as "Banegi Apni Baat", "Swabhimaan" and "Koshish", shared details of her harrowing story in a lengthy Twitter note, saying the incident took place in the beginning of her career and shattered her confidence in the profession. Mridul said despite being the victim of Nath's overtures, it was she who suffered because he spread lies about her being a difficult person to work with. Nath essayed the role of her on-screen father, while late Reema Lagoo played her mother in the telefilm which was being shot in Kodaikanal. Read Complete Article Business Standard