Tanvi Trivedi (BOMBAY TIMES; October 23, 2018)

After Tanushree Dutta accused Bollywood actor Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct on the sets of the film Horn Ok Pleassss, controversy’s favourite child Rakhi Sawant stood up in support of Nana Patekar and criticised Dutta on her allegations. “Was she in coma for 10 years?” she asked in a press conference recently. Rakhi went on to say that Tanushree is mad, she is out of work, she has no money left and she is doing such things for mere publicity. Now, Tanushree has filed a civil and criminal defamation case against Rakhi Sawant for `10 crore.

Tanushree’s advocate, Nitin Satpute said, “We have filed a criminal and civil defamation complaint against Rakhi for maligning my client’s image. If she fails to revert to the notice, she will be fined or punished for two years in prison, or both.”

When BT contacted Tanushree, she said that the whole issue was being taken care of by her lawyer, but she specifically spoke about women who have not supported other women in #MeToo movement. She said, “Generically, what’s most disappointing about the entire #MeToo movement is the response of some women who are so misogynistic, patriarchal, biased and disgusting. When I see such women respond in the most derogatory fashion, I realise this is why a lot of people in the country don’t speak up against exploitation, because they don’t get support from other women. In my case, both men and women came together and stood up to support me. I also saw some women on news channels, who responded on this issue so aggressively that I felt that they had something to hide in the closet and that’s why they were against the movement. Either they are hiding their own personal and professional conduct, which is highly objectionable, or they are hiding something far more sinister, which they don’t want the world to know. This is just a defence mechanism, and the entire world knows women who are complicit in the eco system with their silence. We all know such women who have a certain behaviour and attitude in furthering their career and of course, they will have a problem with women who speak against exploitation and sexual harassment. Often a person decides to support the accused because of selfish motives, “kaam milega” is one of the important reasons. Such individuals stay silent or get into character assassination mode. Such women lose respect of both men and women. They will not get work from men or women. They completely lose face in society.”

When BT contacted Rakhi Sawant, she said, “Tanushree is a liar. I was present on the set that day (when Tanushree was shooting with Nana Patekar) and nothing like that happened. Earlier, she was seeking publicity by taking Nana Patekar’s name, now she is using the defamation suit against me to seek publicity. In fact, Tanushree and I were good friends when she was working in the industry. I am not against the #MeToo movement, but I am not supporting Tanushree. I will also file a Rs 50-crore defamation case against her.”