Tanushree Dutta, who kick-started the #MeToo movement in Bollywood last year, says that actor Nana Patekar, who she had accused of sexual misconduct on the sets of their film Horn OK Pleassss (2009), has not been given a clean chit by the police, contrary to reports
Ismat Tahseen (BOMBAY TIMES; May 18, 2019)

Reports surfaced on Thursday evening about actor Nana Patekar being given a clean chit by the police in the Tanushree Dutta sexual misconduct case. However, Tanushree, speaking to BT from the US, said, “These are just rumours. I have spoken to my advocate Nitin Satpute, who has confirmed it with the police. The investigation is still going on. And yes, it’s true that it’s been slow. As I have mentioned earlier, we had a lot of difficulty in even convincing witnesses to come forth and give their statements. So, only one or two witnesses recorded their statement right after the FIR. After that, we’ve been having a tough time trying to convince other witnesses. Some of them said that they would come forward and speak, but they did not turn up. We got to know that they have been getting dubious calls, semi-threatening stuff, which has got them worried”.

‘IT WAS STRANGE HOW SOME WITNESSES WOULD PROMISE TO SHOW UP AND THEN, EVENTUALLY NOT TURN UP’
Talking about witnesses who have come forward to support Nana Patekar, Tanushree says, “These witnesses are random people, and we don’t know if they were even present on the set that day.” She adds, “As you are aware in film units there is no employer-employee listing that is maintained (at least back then). It’s all informal. So, there is no way to confirm whether that person, who is pretending to be a witness and saying they don’t remember anything, was ever present on the day of the incident that happened ten years ago. What do they mean by saying they don’t remember? This is an attempt to mislead the law. The fact is that, such a thing happened on the set (of Horn OK Pleassss) when there were so many people present and nobody did anything about it. These four people — Nana, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang — have gotten away with harassing and threatening me. Later on, when I tried to leave, my car got attacked while I was inside the car with my family. All this took place and everyone around chose to keep quiet back then. So, why would they come forth now and speak up against it? I doubt if any of the original people are even being spoken to. Apart from the core team, there were dancers, technicians, etc, but no one knows who these people are, as there is no record maintained of their names. So, everything is dubious. On top of this, we know that our witnesses have been getting calls and are being told, ‘Oh, why do you want to get into this? Aap ko court ke chakkar lagney padengey, aur baad mein yeh hoga, woh hoga’. A lot of times, people don’t report harassment as they think, ‘Kya hoga? Kuch nahi hoga’. I do hope things speed up with the case; that would be an ideal situation. In fact, initially, when I was still in India, I was hoping that all of witness statements would be done and over with, in a couple of months. It was strange how some of witnesses would promise to show up and then, eventually not turn up.”

‘THE INVESTIGATION IS STILL GOING ON AND WE ARE TRYING TO CONVINCE OUR WITNESSES TO COME FORWARD’
Tanushree says that this battle is far from over for her and everyone involved. “This is an attempt to set an example for the rest of the country as I think that we really need to buckle up our belts when it comes to women’s safety and protection in our country. There has been no ‘clean chit’ or even ‘almost clean chit’ given to Nana, as reported. I have confirmed this with my advocate, who has confirmed the same with the cops. There has been no statement insinuating this. The investigation is on and we are trying to convince our witnesses to come forward. It is not over, and any kind of result or judgment will only come after the investigation is fully over,” she explains.

‘WOMEN STILL DEAL WITH STIGMA OF HARASSMENT AND THEY DON’T SPEAK UP’
Though the going has been tough, Tanushree stuck to her decision. What motivates her? “Well, something had to be done. I have suffered long enough because of the results of that incident. Life did get very tough at times and I don’t want that for anybody else,” she says, adding, “Dealing with the case is a bit of a bother as I am busy with my life here in the US. But when I have started something, I will stick by it. I know that this is not just about me anymore. I have moved on in my life. But there is an entire nation that is still dealing with a lot of stigma when it comes to harassment and crimes of sexual nature. Women still deal with stigma and they don’t speak up. They suffer in silence. If I can help make the situation better, then why not? If someone like me can be harassed, troubled and attacked and nothing comes of it, then what hope is there for those women, who do 9-to-5 jobs in the city and travel by public transport on a daily basis. Many actresses in Bollywood — for fear of losing their jobs — have probably still kept quiet. I know instances of heinous things happening to popular actresses, but they have never spoken about it and they probably never will. But I am in a position to do something about it and if I can make a difference, I will.”