Dutta Harassment: Women's Panel Seeks Response From Those Accused

Actor Tanushree Dutta has now sought justice from the Maharashtra Women Commission in the case pertaining to her harassment complaint against Nana Patekar. She had earlier complained against Patekar, producer Samee Siddiqui, choreographer Ganesh Acharya and director Rakesh Sarang. The commission has intervened and sent notices to those named by Dutta and asked them to revert within 10 days with their response, its chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar said.

#TanushreeDutta's lawyer submits a 40 page document to Mumbai police & Maharashtra State Commission for Woman in addition to her earlier complaint against Nana Patekar&others. It contains her earlier complaint to police filed in 2008&subsequent correspondence to other film bodies pic.twitter.com/A80h1LHPl1

— ANI (@ANI) October 10, 2018

In a video statement, Rahatkar said, “We have asked them (Patekar and the three others) to present their side within 10 days. We have also asked Dutta to appear before the commission and share more information in the matter."

This processing came days after Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of harassment. Later, Dutta had received legal notices from Nana Patekar and Vivek Agnihotri for defamation too. Dutta has demanded an investigation into the allegations of harassment. Her allegations extend to several Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party workers too.

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Dutta's lawyer, Nitin Satpute, on Monday told

#TanushreeDutta's lawyer submits a 40 page document to Mumbai police & Maharashtra State Commission for Woman in addition to her earlier complaint against Nana Patekar&others. It contains her earlier complaint to police filed in 2008&subsequent correspondence to other film bodies pic.twitter.com/A80h1LHPl1

He added, "Tanushree Dutta's statement has not yet been recorded, so tomorrow she will come for the same along with the witnesses. After recording the statement, we will take the next step."

Earlier, Dutta had told Zoom TV: “Everyone knows about Nana Patekar that he has always been disrespectful towards women. People in the industry know about his background… that he has beaten actresses, he has molested them, his behaviour with women has always been crude but no publication has printed anything about it.”

Dutta’s revelations about Patekar behaving inappropriately while filming a song sequence over a decade ago defines Bollywood’s #MeToo movement. When she refused to comply, goons were reportedly sent after her. The controversy didn’t stop there. After Dutta’s allegations about Patekar surfaced, she also claimed similar harassment by Chocolate director Vivek Agnihotri during the making of the film.

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