Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya Accused Of Sexual Harassment

A flight attendant on Tuesday alleged that singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya had sexually harassed her. This incident reportedly took place in 1998. 

The incident

The incident, which took place almost 20 years ago, occurred at a pub in Kolkata. The woman, in her long post, writes that Bhattacharya, a music sensation then, grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her closer for refusing to dance or get intimate with him.

She added how he got angry with her behaviour, and screamed in her ear, “Bitch, what do you think of yourself, wait till I teach you a lesson” before almost kissing and nibbling her on her left ear.

The former flight attendant mentioned that the hotel knew her well and therefore, supported her. Bhattacharya, on the other hand, reportedly faced a one-month ban. She claims that a leading daily had covered the the story at the time, featuring it on the front page.

Bhattacharya shames the survivor

Bhattacharya dismissed the woman's claims. “I wasn’t born at that time,” he told The Indian Express.

“Somebody told me over the call. I was not born at that time. I have never gone to pubs in my life. You’ll never find me at any page 3 or filmy parties. My name sells. If someone’s benefiting from it, good. Sometimes earning their bread and butter with my name, it’s fine,” he said.

The singer even ignored the fact that the woman mentioned a friend of his in the account. He commented saying he doesn’t want to give attention to fat and ugly girls, who are now coming out to blame people.

“Most of the people who are coming out right now are dirty, ugly people. Koi mota hai koi patla hai. No one deserves (the attention). Just to grab some attention, they are coming out. Most of the fat and ugly girls are blaming and I wasn’t born at that time,” he told IE. 

Abhijeet Bhattacharya and his controversies 

Controversies are not new when it comes to the singer. Earlier, on many accounts, his words and actions have shamed many people. Twitter has even suspended his verified account following his offensive tweets, especially against women. Here are some controversies surrounding the singer.

Tweet that had him suspended

On May 22, Bhattacharya started tweeting against Arundhati Roy and her female supporters like JNU student-activist, Shehla Rashid. He had re-tweeted about Rashid writing, “There is rumour she took money for two hours and didn’t satisfy the client… big racket.”

In another tweet, he insulted the woman when she called him out for his indecent tweets. “You Ms Pak. Tell me your cage no? Will reach there…  Will do the favourite pose,” he wrote. 

"Kutta road pe soyega" comment

Bhattacharya even had the audacity to criticise and blame homeless people for sleeping on pavements. He defended Salman Khan in his infamous 2002 hit-and-run case. He came in support of Khan by tweeting, “Kutta rd pe soyega kutte ki maut marega, roads garib ke baap ki nahi hai I ws homeless a year nvr slept on rd.”

Lashed out at Karan Johar for supporting Pakistani actors

The singer even stirred up a controversy by attacking Karan Johar and Pakistani actor Fawad Khan on Twitter with his homophobic joke.

After Bollywood celebrities such as Nana Patekar, Kailash Kher, Alok Nath, filmmaker-actor Rajat Kapoor, director Vikas Bahl, now singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya’s name is the latest to join the list in this #MeToo firestorm.