Divya Kotian Filed An FIR Against Choreographer Ganesh Acharya For Sexual Misconduct. Another Man Abusing His Power And Position.
I feel incredibly blessed to be in a profession which has more women occupying leadership positions than men. At this point, I don’t have to be scared of being asked for sexual favours in exchange of career growth. I don’t have a toxic male trying to target me because I am a woman. But even though I don’t have to go through this (not yet…and it’s just a matter of luck not certainty), I feel terrible that other women have to. Powerful men abusing their authority to make a woman a slave of their whims and fancies, isn’t uncommon. The #MeToo movement brought several such names out in the public eye and it has motivated women to speak up against their perpetrators. This time, it’s Ganesh Acharya who has been accused of sexual misconduct.
A 33-year-old choreographer Divya Kotian has filed a complaint against him at the Maharashtra Women’s Commission and Amboli police station in Mumbai. In her complaint, she has stated that he has been using his power as the General Secretary of the Indian Film & Television Choreographers Association to harass her.
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She said that he has been depriving her of work, demanding commissions from her earnings and forcing her to watch pornographic content. Kotian said that he used to often call her to his office and wanted her to become his personal assistant. When she refused to give in to his demands, she claims that he cancelled her membership of the association, for which she had paid a lakh.
So when Kotian took the matter to the association, reports suggest that Acharya was furious to see her there and asked other members to beat her up. In fact, according to Republic World, they could access the CCTV footage of the entire brawl that went down. However, the video seems blurry to me and I couldn’t really tell who was hitting who.
In December 2019, Saroj Khan had spoken up against Ganesh Acharya and called him out for his malpractices when it comes to performers.
Recently, I had written about how the organisation behind the Grammys suspended its first female head because she spoke up against sexual harassment and other malpractices that happen at its core.
ALSO READ: The First Woman To Head Grammys Got Suspended When She Complained Of Sexual Harassment. But Grammys Has Always Been Sexist.
Why is toxic masculinity so prevalent all across the world? The sheer number of biases, levels of violation and shit that we have to fight against is exhausting. According to World Economic Forum, it will take another 169 years for women to get equal rights if things go at the pace they are going right now. It’s time to call this an emergency and expedite things because we can’t and should not continue to suffer at the hands of men for longer.
