Tanushree Dutta has revealed that she has received legal notices from Nana Patekar and Vivek Agnihotri on Wednesday, days after she accused them both of sexual misconduct and harassment. Tanushree alleged that both Nana and Vivek harassed her on film sets almost a decade ago, in what is being referred to as India’s watershed #MeToo moment.
In a statement released late Wednesday night, Tanushree said, “This is the price you pay for speaking out against harassment, humiliation and injustice in India.”
She added that the teams of the director and actor are out to smear her reputation with “outright lies and misinformation on social media platforms and other public platforms”.
Tanushree further alleged that two people tried to barge into her house and is currently being given protective custody by the Mumbai Police.
“Today while I was at home and the police personnel posted outside my home were on a lunch break two unnamed suspicious individuals tried getting into our home uninvited but were stopped just in time by security personnel in the building. Later the police came back from their break and secured the premises again.”
“Violent threats are being issued against me by the MNS party,” Tanushree asserted.
Tanushree further remarked that the women rights situation in India is grim which is why women don’t come out with their stories.
“‘Tareek pe Tareek pe tareek’ and the dawn of justice never arrives and her whole life goes waste awaiting justice while witnesses are intimidated, discredited or simply drained of their will to stand up. False witnesses supporting perpetrators conjured up to further weaken her case. Court cases can run for decades without a hope for a conclusion. At the end, an empty shell remains, broken hopes. A life wasted, defeated. This is the age-old saga of survivors in our nation.”
“I walked away once from the same environment that was created for me 10 years ago. Found God, found my healing, found my peace and a new life in the United States of America. And now I stand to lose this new life too if I allow myself to get embroiled in the court system of India. This is why the Me Too movement hasn’t happened in India.”
In an explosive revelation, Tanushree had alleged that National Award winning actor Nana Patekar had physically and sexually harassed her during the shoot of the 2008 film Horn OK Pleasss. She had claimed that Nana demanded her to intimate steps with him and when she refused, members of a political party were called who threatened her and vandalised her car, videos of which have emerged on social media.
Nana had dismissed the allegations, which were corroborated by a journalist and an assistant director on the film. However, a number of Bollywood personalities also spoke in Tanushree’s favour including Farhan Akhtar, Kajol, Ayushmann Khurrana, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker and Priyanka Chopra.
Tanushree also accused director Vivek Agnihotri of inappropriate behaviour on the sets of his 2005 film, Chocolate. The actor recalled an incident on set when she was commanded to strip and dance without any warning. She shared that established actors Irrfan Khan and Suniel Shetty stood up for her at that point.
Agnihotri has denied all these allegations and issued a statement calling her claims ‘false, frivolous, vexatious.’
The Press Release. pic.twitter.com/CGazoCck7v
— Vivek Agnihotri (@vivekagnihotri) October 4, 2018
