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| Edited By: Gargi Gupta,Dyuti Basu,Yoshita Rao,Ornella D'Souza |Source: DNA |Updated: Oct 14, 2018, 06:51 AM IST
It wasn’t the first time Tanushree Dutta was speaking about it – she’d filed a complaint back in 2008 right after the ‘incident’ and referred to it again in 2013. But it’s only now, after her interview with a TV channel where she revealed, yet again, how she’d been harassed on set by Nana Patekar, that the world sat up and took note. And how!
In the weeks since Dutta’s ‘revelations’, Twitter has exploded with women, especially in the media and entertainment space, coming forward to recount instances of harassment, assault, molestation, intimidation, even rape by a whole host of big shot names. Actor Alok Nath; editor, now minister and erstwhile journalist MJ Akbar; director Vikas Bahl; stand-up comedian Utsav Chakraborty, best-selling author Chetan Bhagat; singers Kailash Kher and Raghu Dixit; adman and TV commentator Suhel Seth; senior journalists KR Sreenivas, Gautam Adhikari, Mayank Jain, and Prashant Jha; photographer Pablo Bartholomew – the list is long and growing by the day.
It’s the gnawing residue of last year’s #MeToo movement in Hollywood – unlike earlier, when allegations were easy to brush off, or never managed to make it to the limelight in the mass media, this time victims and witnesses – women, and men – have come forward to back up stories and support each other. Dutta’s allegations, for instance, were corroborated by a journalist Janice Sequeira and Shyni Shetty, assistant director on the sets of the film where Patekar assaulted her. Similarly, Vinta Nanda’s horrifying account of rape by Alok Nath was taken up by others like Sandhya Mridul; and the accounts of Akbar’s unacceptable behavior have come from not one, but a cross-section of women who worked with him over the years. This has created an enabling environment where women have felt assured of an audience that wouldn’t scoff or dismiss their stories as false – as always happened earlier.
But while it’s easy to ‘name and shame’ on social media and the reactions are quick, the fight in the real world will be, as always, difficult and messy. Dutta has had defamation cases filed against her by Patekar and Vivek Agnihotri, the director against whom she’d leveled charges. She’s filed an FIR herself against the men, but who’s to say how the law enforcement system – which doesn’t have the best track record with gender sensitivity – will handle the case? This time around, CINTAA – Cine And TV Artistes’ Association – and the State Commission for Women have come out in her favour, by sending notices to Patekar. But whether anything concrete comes of it remains to be seen.
Still, a long-lasting good may yet come of this – in fact, it already has. The names of the offenders, whispered about until now, have been, metaphorically speaking, shouted out from the rooftops. Hopefully, now, it’ll give stakeholders in the film industry and also, the larger media and entertainment sector pause. As for the world of journalism and media, perhaps now employers will investigate and lend credence to allegations of gender inappropriate behavior. And the internal complaints committee will not remain a paper tiger!
The most obviously affected will be workplaces. In big media giants, driven by their popular faces and big names, the power was in the hands of a select few. According to Director of HR Cipla Health Ltd, Rajdeep Bhattacharyya, in companies like these, as opposed to companies with equitable division of power, cases of sexual harassment are more likely to take place, with perpetrators in high positions sure of getting away with it.
“What the #MeToo movement has done is to challenge the existing power balance. Now, the intern who was afraid of raising her voice against the head of the department will be able to speak up because she now draws power from an outside collective,” he explains, adding that a second outcome of the movement has been the fact that women are now more aware of what constitutes sexual harassment. “When they see people speaking up about incidents similar to what they had gone through and perhaps forced themselves to brush aside as an overreaction – say some crass comment or physical pass – they are now defined as harassment.”
An argument that has been brought up in many television news debates over the last week is that less women will be hired at the workplace, with companies being afraid of similar cases being brought up. Bhattacharyya brushes this aside, stating two reasons to the contrary. “Firstly, it goes completely against any sense of company ethics to stop hiring women as against not firing perpetrators, especially since it is all in such public domain. Secondly, there is not enough specialised talent required in media houses for the luxury of picking and choosing too much on the basis of gender.”
Will the change persist, is the real question, feels Bhattacharyya. Especially when the accused are high-profile persons with their own social networks and ties in the media industry, which for all its reach, can be compared to a small town where everyone knows everyone. “The good thing is that, while hiring, it’s easy to do a background check. But those with enough clout may make their way back into the industry when the storm abates,” he says, adding that the movement gives hope that no matter how high the position, no one can get away with it. “After all, Uber’s founder ultimately had to resign due to pressure from all shareholders after his sexual harassment charges.”
Delhi-based sexual crimes lawyer Sarthak Maggon doesn’t like the course the movement is taking – as it provides anonymous allegations a platform, a kind of online mob frenzy instead of court justice. Once anonymity is argued for, it shuts the door to check the veracity of the statements. “I can take a printout of all the allegations made against a man on social media to the police and ask them to take action against him. Anyone can set the criminal law machinery in motion,” says Maggon.
Also, media professionals can make enemies, he feels, because of what they say and write. Attempts can be made to stifle freedom of speech and tarnish their credibility.
The movement, he feels, without legal backing, not only fails to create long-lasting repercussions for the perpetrators of crimes, but may also lead to the names of the innocent being tarnished.
Also, instead of mere reportage, media houses can start publishing solutions. “For instance, one can do x, y, and z the moment you get molested, as after 24 hours, the claim starts to lose credibility. Or here are ten lawyers to contact for pro bono legal help,” says Maggon.
Advocate Kuldeep U Nikam, however, feels even if a woman outs a man after 10 years, we have to support her. “At that time, her career may have been at stake, and she may have chosen not to file such a complaint immediately. But now with #MeToo, she may find the strength to raise her voice. The opening statement of the defense will be, ‘Why did she stay mum for 10 years?’ But if these cases fall under Section 376 (rape) and Section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), the court considers it appropriate and treats it sensitively,” says Nikam, adding that he doesn’t doubt the genuineness of #MeToo.
The framework for justice is already in place, Maggon is quick to point out. “The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act 2013 insists on the existence of an internal complaints committee. Women can file their grievance here and the act demands that action must be taken, if the organisation is POSH compliant” he lists, adding that an FIR can be filed or aid sought from NGOs or National Commission for Women (NCW).
With full faith in the legal system, Maggon proclaims, “Justice organically served – though delayed by days, months or years as rights on both sides are being protected – must be your outlet for vengeance. Only if the police or authorities refuse to file your complaint, or the organisation you work in forces you to take back the complaint, then go ahead and utilise social media for help.” Maggon feels the true spirit of the #MeToo movement should culminate in an organisation that agrees to raise a campaign offering to provide a lawyer for every complaint filed.
Going beyond the online feminist movement, #MeToo will also impact dynamics of male-female interaction. Keeping the portrayal of women and sexual violence at the centre of her argument, Indian filmmaker and writer, Paromita Vohra reckons that changing skewed perceptions will set a process in motion for a structural change. The media industry will now have to examine interpersonal relationships, observes Vohra. “Media personnel will have to see if they treat women as genuine colleagues. A common thing is that people don’t like to say anything to women in case women misinterpret it or they might cause some offence so we won’t talk to them at all. As a result you are not changing what you do, but you stop talking to the women and make a boy’s club.”
In order to find the conduct right while speaking to colleagues regardless of gender, structural changes within the company will first have to be put into place. Other than the appropriate representation of gender inside the industry, Vohra states there needs to be adequate representation of gender at higher levels of a firm’s hierarchy. And lastly, she adds, “We need to create resources in the organisation for better understanding of these issues.”
On the flip side, the narrative in the media about sexual crimes will also have to change. “If you look at AIB’s Creep Qawwali it shows that the guy who doesn’t speak good English and who is in your ‘others’ inbox is the creep,” says Vohra. The insinuation, she explains, is that an articulate English speaking man will not be a ‘creep’. She speaks of portrayal of gender by the media, which has its own inherent bias and needs to be restructured. “The reality is that 98 per cent of rapes happen through someone known to the victim. There is a disparity in the way in which media portrays sexual violence and the reality of sexual violence,” says Vohra.
These solutions will run the course of any clichéd idiom that states change is a slow process. However, it is necessary to note the significance of #MeToo that gives a voice to the silent and oppressed. Moving past gender barriers will need a structural change, and unless a positive change is not brought about, the movement will go on. “There will be continuous waves of #MeToo until this happens,” Vohra concludes.
