Ismat Tahseen (BOMBAY TIMES; June 14, 2019)

Talking to BT yesterday from the US, Tanushree Dutta said that she woke up to this news. “At about 5 am, a got a call from a friend who told me about it. This is disgusting, because Nana Patekar has been trying to get a clean chit for a while now. I have also mentioned this earlier in an interview that our witnesses have been getting threat calls, and they are being intimidated and pressured in every way so that they do not record their statements with the police. We have 10 witnesses, out of which only one-and-a-half statements have been recorded. The others have not even come forward, as they have got threat calls. Cops say that there is lack of evidence. How will credible evidence be produced, if the accused is making sure that no evidence against him reaches the police? The witnesses that the police have recorded the statements (in his favour) from, are his friends. From the unit present during the time of the shoot back then, no one was really my friend. Also, the witnesses did not say nothing happened, they said, they don’t remember anything,” she said.

The actress adds that she is not disappointed by the turn of events. She said, “Disappointment happens when you are shocked about something. I didn’t have much expectation from the harassment case. I also think Nana Patekar is desperately trying to come back to Bollywood and now, he wants his name to be cleared somehow. My only hope of judgment now is from God. I will continue this fight”.
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Sharmeen Hakim (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 14, 2019)

When contacted, Dutta said she doesn’t know any other person examined as a witness by the Oshiwara police. “There was journalist Janice Sequiera whose testimony would corroborate mine. Daisy Shah was Ganesh Acharya’s assistant and now says she doesn’t remember anything. Actor Sudhir Pande, Ramesh Taurani and Ratan Jain were not on sets so why should their statements even be recorded,” she said. “I don’t know any other witnesses,” she added. The others, police said, were spot boys, art directors and choreographers on the sets of the film.

In the report, the police also said that they found no substance in Dutta’s complaint that her statement about the alleged harassment was wrongly recorded by the Goregaon police in 2008 and the cops purportedly only recorded the breaking of her car and violence by alleged MNS workers.

After the news of closure report being filed, Dutta had immediately taken to social media and said she is neither shocked nor surprised. “Being a woman in India this is something we all have got used to. Our witnesses have been silenced by intimidation, and fake witnesses have been put forth to weaken the case. What was the rush to file a B summary report when all of my witnesses have not even recorded their statements yet?”

She added, “I mean if rape accused Alok Nath got a clean chit and returned to movies then surely it was not going to be difficult for harassment accused Nana Patekar to get himself or shall we say buy himself a clean chit to continue to bully hapless young women. But the proof is often in the pudding… A gentle reminder to the public to watch the video of my car being attacked and broken while me and my family tried to escape from these monsters on the sets of the film 10 years ago.”