Payal Ghosh Questions Delay In Investigation Of #MeToo Allegations Against Anurag Kashyap. Why Is This Taking So Long?
The #MeToo movement, though revolutionary, has been declared a failure. And no, it’s not just me basing an assumption off something I read on Twitter. There was a study commissioned in Hollywood that conducted a survey and found out that sexism is still rampant in entertainment and media in the United States. In Bollywood, we don’t even need to conduct a study. It is evident. Take, for example, the case of actress Payal Ghosh, he claims to have filed a complaint against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, alleging sexual harassment. And despite this surfacing sometime in September, nothing has yet been done, according to Payal, to investigate the matter.
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The actress took to Twitter to call out Mumbai Police’s inaction in the case for the past four months.
It's been 4 months and no action has been taken against #AnuragKashyap inspite of me providing evidence. Do I have to die to get the proccedings going ?
— Payal Ghoshॐ (@iampayalghosh) December 21, 2020
It's been a while and @mumbaipolice hasn't done it's best. An earnest request . It's a matter of women and we should be aware of what examples we are setting.
— Payal Ghoshॐ (@iampayalghosh) December 21, 2020
A few months ago, Payal Ghosh, in an interview with a regional news channel, spoke up about how the Choked filmmaker called the actress home on the pretext of work discussion, when the alleged incident happened. What’s more, Payal also said that the director told her how it was all completely fine since other actresses that he had worked with were “just a call away” for him. The actress named by Payal in the interview did not take this well, for it questioned their own hard work and effort to reach where they were in the industry. In fact, Richa Chadha even filed and won a defamation case against Payal Ghosh, which prevented Payal from making statements about the actress in public pertaining to this matter.
@anuragkashyap72 has forced himself on me and extremely badly. @PMOIndia @narendramodi ji, kindly take action and let the country see the demon behind this creative guy. I am aware that it can harm me and my security is at risk. Pls help! https://t.co/1q6BYsZpyx
— Payal Ghoshॐ (@iampayalghosh) September 19, 2020
Meanwhile, several actresses and crew members, including Anurag Kashyap’s ex-wife Kalki Koechlin, rose in defence of the filmmaker. They attested to never feeling uncomfortable in his presence and going as far as saying that for a woman in the industry, there’s no safer place to work than on a Kashyap film. Some industry peers and journalists also expressed their concerns about this being a smear campaign against Anurag Kashyap, since he was quite vocal in his dissent of the government. In his official statement, Kashyap has denied the allegations, claiming that he was in Sri Lanka for shoot and it is all an absolute lie.
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Despite all of this being embroiled in so much controversy, the Mumbai Police seem to have forsaken any investigation in this case. Or perhaps, it is happening rather slowly.
Also Read: Are We Dismissing The #MeToo Allegations Against Anurag Kashyap Too Quickly? Not Every Woman’s Experience Is The Same.
In a matter like this, no matter what you personally believe, the right way to go about it is to give the woman who is mustering the strength to put her traumatic experience forward the benefit of the doubt. The expedience that is needed in investigating and putting to rest these cases isn’t just for the sake of the abused but also for the sake of the accused. Even in the scenario where we believe Anurag Kashyap is innocent and this is merely an attempt to malign his reputation, an inquiry initiated as soon as possible will only help expel the allegedly false accusations, wouldn’t it? So not matter what side you are on, what’s ultimately in the best interest of everyone is for the proceedings to begin right away.
Let’s go back to the failure of the #MeToo movement and think. Who is to blame for this failure? You could say it is the establishments that failed to comply with better practices, or the society that even now doesn’t educate its men as it should. Or you could also call out the thousands of women who stepped forth to share their stories on social media but never filed official complaints. The latter is a fan favourite of men and women who think #MeToo is a sham. But then, here’s a case of someone having filed a complaint and still not gotten any redressal. There are also women who want to take legal recourse but are afraid of the repercussions on their own family, or are perhaps scared because the other party is more powerful. There could be a lot of reasons why women feel brave on social media but lack the resources to pursue the case IRL.
So ultimately, the blame for the failure lies on all of us, who’ve made it not just unsafe but futile for women to speak up.
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