Vikas Bahl Cleared Of MeToo Allegations Before Movie Release

Queen Director Vikas Bahl has been given a clean chit from the sexual misconduct allegations posed against him by a Phantom Films employee. Right before his film Super 30’s release that stars Hrithik Roshan, an internal inquiry by Reliance Entertainment has cleared Bahl of all charges. This move will reinstate Bahl’s position as Director of the film while promoting it. The trailer of the film set to release next week will also have Bahl’s name in it as Director of the film.

Accusations against Bahl could have led to a grave loss to the film. Earlier, it is because of sexual misconduct allegations against him that the production house Phantom Films had to dissolve. It was a co-founded property of Bahl, Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap and  Madhu Mantena. Reliance Entertainment with its 50% stake in Phantom Films conducted the inquiry and absolved Bahl off the charges. It also stated that his name will be incorporated as director of Hrithik Roshan’s Super 30.

“Yes, it is that the internal complaints committee report has exonerated Vikas Bahl. With ICC clearing Vikas Bahl's name, we don't have a choice but to reinstate his credit as director of Super 30,” said Shibasish Sarkar, Group CEO, Reliance Entertainment in an official statement.

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After the clean chit given to Bahl by the inquiry committee, he has filed a defamation suit against Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane for maligning his image by giving statements against him on social media.

“In any sexual harassment case, there are two ways – either it’s the Internal Complaints Committee, who probe the whole aspect of the victim approaches any legal forum. In this case, what is happening is that people are making allegations on Twitter and putting the story on social media. But in all the MeToo cases, where are you seeing the charges actually being probed? Is merely writing a story on social media sufficient to castigate a person? Upon making the entire inquiry, ICC has come to the conclusion that there’s no case against him. Vikas does not need to come out with an official statement because the biggest statement would be him being credited for Super 30. He will be allowed in every aspect of the film now,” Bahl’s lawyer Hitesh Jain, Indian Express reported.

Reliance Entertainment with its 50% stake in Phantom Films conducted the inquiry and absolved Bahl off the charges. It also stated that his name will be incorporated as director of Hrithik Roshan’s Super 30.

During the wake of #Metoo allegations in October last year, an employee of Phantom Films had accused Bahl of sexually assaulting her in 2015. The woman alleged that Kashyap had ignored the complaint that she made in October 2015. The woman resigned from Phantom Films in January 2017. Queen actor Kangana Ranaut and Nayani Dixit had also accused him of sexual misconduct on sets of the film.

Meanwhile, Kashyap and Motwane also released a statement on their social media accounts condemning Bahl. A few days later, Bahl filed an Rs 10-crore defamation suit against Kashyap and Motwane in October 2018. He had sent legal notices to the two, accusing them of taking advantage of the harassment allegation to disband Phantom Films and pin the blame on him.

Picture credit- News 18

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