Nana Patekar Denies #MeToo allegations To Women’s Commission

Bollywood actor Nana Patekar has responded to the notice sent by Maharashtra Women’s Commission against sexual harassment accusations brought in by Tanushree Dutta. The Commission had sent notice to four people —Nana Patekar, Rakesh Sarang, Samee Siddiqui and Ganesh Acharya— involved in allegedly intimidating and harassing Tanushree Dutta on the set of the movie 'Horn Ok Please' a decade ago. Dutta has also filed a police complaint against these men. But only two have responded to the commission’s notice including Siddiqui.

In a two-and-a-half-page response, the two have categorically denied all allegations. "We have submitted our response to the commission and informed it that the matter is sub judice. An FIR also is registered in the case, and hence, details of the incident can't be revealed,” said Patekar's lawyer Advocate Rajendra Shirodkar.

Dutta ignited Bollywood’s #MeToo movement when, just by chance, a journalist asked for her views on the Hollywood’s #MeToo movement, when she recently came back to Mumbai from America. She responded to it by recollecting her own harrowing experiences of sexual harassment in the industry and how she had to leave because of it. In the last month, not only Dutta’s revelations shook up the industry it opened the floodgates, various such instances of misconduct were revealed by several actors and models. Many popular faces have been named, such as, Vivek Agnihotri, Sajid Khan, Alok Nath, and so on, shocking the public.

ALSO READ: #MeToo: Tanushree Dutta Accuses Nana Patekar Of Sex Abuse

It didn’t stop there, and spread across the media industry, where in the aftermath of the allegations several well-known male journalists had to step down from their positions. Even a Union Minister MJ Akbar had to resign from his position of Junior Foreign Minister because over 20 women have spoken up against him for his misdemeanours.

We have submitted our response to the commission and informed it that the matter is sub judice.

In Dutta’s case, Cine And TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) has taken up the case again and accepted that earlier it had not treated it with seriousness. The state police has also procured the original complaint from 2008 that Dutta had filed back then with CINTAA. “When Tanushree visited Oshiwara police station for the first time, she had given us a copy of her previous complaint, which she had submitted at CINTAA a day after the incident in 2008,” said a top Mumbai Police cop.

Picture credit- India Today

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