Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; October 10, 2018)

On Monday, the #MeToo movement gathered momentum with a popular TV writer and producer of the 1990s show, Tara, accusing Alok Nath of sexually violating her when they were colleagues.BT spoke to the survivor’s friend, Pooja Bhatt, on the issue. Here’s what she said:

“I have known her for a very long time now, so if she is accusing Alok Nath of sexually assaulting her, there is no reason not to believe her. But I have not known Alok Nath, I only did one film with him where he played my father and I hardly had any scenes with him. But he is known to have an alcohol problem, and though I have not witnessed it first-hand, I have heard that he suffers from a Dr Jekyll-Mr Hyde problem for years.

She has said that she was asked to keep quiet about this and forget what happened. Who are these people who asked her to keep quiet? This is a problem every woman is facing since time immemorial. So many women are sexually assaulted, teased and raped every day, sometimes in their own homes, and the mother asks her daughter to keep quiet. Why are we not teaching them to speak up when it happens to them? I feel that along with Alok Nath, all those people who have asked her to keep quiet are equally responsible, because they help such predators to continue doing these horrible crimes.

Interestingly, people in India are saying that we are a part of the #MeToo movement, which started in the West. But, don’t you realise that crimes like these have been happening in India for years now? I also hear people asking why she has woken up now to tell her story. I feel that nobody has the right to question why she is talking about the incident after 19 years. We have all been survivors of sexual assaults — when somebody grabbed us from the back, or punched us in the train or bottom-slapped us. If a woman as outspoken as her is talking about it after 19 years, I think that somewhere, we are going wrong in not teaching our children that they should talk about it.

Thirdly, the bodies that the film and TV fraternity have created to protect our rights are not able to help at all. In fact, if these bodies are not able to help an employee get her or his pending dues from their producers, how will they help a woman, who was raped 19 years ago, get justice?

Having said that, I also want to reiterate that every man is not a sexual predator. Also, a Twitter or Facebook post should not decide whether a man is a rapist or not. There should be a proper inquiry on this matter and the allegations should be proved.”