Following the #MeToo movement escalating, several sexual violation cases dating back to years or even two decades are coming into the spotlight. Veteran writer-producer Vinta Nanda has accused actor Alok Nath of sexual harassment. Her Facebook post described the incident on Monday, recounting the harrowing experience when he had sexually abused and violated her "endlessly" at a party.
Following the incident, Sushant Singh, executive member of CINTAA (Cine and TV Artiste’s association), took to Twitter and apologised to her. He added that a show-clause notice would be sent to Nath and urged her to file a complaint against him.
“Dear @vintananda I am so so sorry. As @CintaaOfficial a show-cause Notice will be sent to @aloknath first thing in the mrng, why he shudnt b expld. Unfortunately we’ve to follow the due process. I urge u to file a complaint against this vile creature, we extend u full support,” he wrote.
Dear @vintananda I am so so sorry. As @CintaaOfficial a show-cause Notice will be sent to @aloknath first thing in the mrng, why he shudnt b expld. Unfortunately we’ve to follow the due process. I urge u to file a complaint against this vile creature, we extend u full support.
— सुशांत सिंह sushant singh سشانت سنگھ (@sushant_says) October 8, 2018
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Support from CINTAA
SheThePeople.TV reached out to Singh for further information about how CINTAA is being proactive in responding to these complaints.
He told us, “We are a team of upright, honest, fearless and dedicated artists and I am very proud to be associated with them. Since 2015, we must have received 6-8 such complaints, which were all resolved promptly. In some cases, even Criminal complaints were lodged. We held an emergency meeting today and all members presented unanimously agreed that in serious cases, we shall take suo-motu notice of allegations and a formal complaint needn’t be lodged by the victim. A show-cause notice shall be issued immediately, and the accused will have to respond in three days. If the Committee isn’t satisfied with the reply and finds the allegations true, the perpetrator shall be expelled from CINTAA.”
“#MeToo movement has finally begun, course-correction too shall happen. Perpetrators must be held accountable by their fraternity.”
Earlier CINTAA had issued an apology to Tanushree Dutta as well. And, now they are taking a firm stand against Alok Nath. When asked what measures do they propose to bring in place, how to redress claims of sexual harassment in the industry since Bollywood and the TV industry has so many cases, Singh replied, "Today Sunil Shetty reached out to me and suggested that we should constitute a high-powered Committee comprising senior and powerful people of our industry to look into all such cases of sexual harassment and misconduct. He has offered his full support to help us realise the same. In today’s meeting, it was resolved to start forming this committee based on the Vishakha Guidelines.”
Support from the industry
A lot of people took to Twitter to support Vinta Nanda:
Heart wrenching. 😢😢😢😢 https://t.co/myVEYDAfTu
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) October 8, 2018
Oh my God!!!!! This is horrific. @vintananda you brave woman. Thank you for telling your story and hopefully helping million others from suffering the same. Bravo! https://t.co/12qOs2M5LF
— Shruti Seth (@SethShruti) October 8, 2018
This monster #AlokNath should be jailed and the keys should be thrown away. I pity any family that he has. To be related to a monster of this level. @vintananda be strong and and I pray for peace and vindication after this nightmare for you. https://t.co/ZDmgDfEaPb
— Shobha Sant (@ShobhaIyerSant) October 9, 2018
Feature Image Credit: IWMBuzz