Actress Kriti Sanon has triggered angry responses to her latest Instagram post in which she questions claims of sexual harassment made in anonymous #MeToo accounts and calls for caution while reporting these allegations. Ms Sanon begins her post by writing that "it takes a lot of courage" to speak out against alleged predators and credits the #MeToo movement for instilling a fear of 'being caught if they wrong anyone.' However, the rest of Ms Sanon's post, which appears to suggest that anonymous allegations of misconduct not be treated or reported by the media as valid, has prompted a storm of criticism in the comments thread.
Kriti Sanon writes of a 'need to make sure this movement doesn't get diluted.' Having set out her good intentions in the first part of her post, Ms Sanon undoes it somewhat by writing: "What happens when a #MeToo story of an "anonymous" girl comes out against someone? Do we simply believe it without even knowing who the girl is or is she even exists? How does one inspect such an incident in order to come to any conclusion? Is it fair to consider the accused 'guilty' when the #MeToo story does not come with the victim's name? Should the media carry such stories."
While Kriti Sanon stresses on the importance of #MeToo having 'a legal repercussion for it to be enduringly effective,' her apparent discrediting of many of the experiences shared through the social media accounts by others on behalf of the survivors has been fiercely criticised. Women choose to remain anonymous for reasons of safety, one comment points out. Another cites Dr Christine Blasey Ford, who received death threats after accusing POTUS Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee of sexual misconduct decades ago. 'Spoken like a truly entitled defensive human being,' reads one scathing comment. "You can't support the movement while simultaneously not believing those who come forward," reads another. Some comments urged Ms Sanon to reveal her person #MeToo story, if she has one.
There is plenty of support for Kriti Sanon's post in the comments, with many agreeing that anonymity has no place in the public calling out of alleged sexual predators.
Read Kriti Sanon's post here:
— Kriti Sanon (@kritisanon) October 14, 2018
India's #MeToo has hit close to home, speaking professionally, for Kriti Sanon with filming on her work-in-progress project Housefull 4 being suspended after allegations of harassment against cast member Nana Patekar and director Sajid Khan, both of whom have now stepped down from the film. In neither case have the accusers been anonymous - Nana Patekar allegedly harassed actress Tanushree Dutta on a film set 10 years ago, an accusation she renewed some weeks ago, after which the #MeToo movement exploded. Soon after Ms Dutta's allegations, Kriti Sanon appeared in a group photo posted by choreographer-director Farah Khan of a film unit leaving to shoot in Jaisalmer - in the picture was Nana Patekar; everyone in the group, Ms Sanon included, were smiling exactly as if nothing had happened.
Mr Patekar denies having harassed Ms Dutta and has sent her a legal notice demanding she apologise. Sajid Khan posted a carefully worded tweet announcing he was taking 'the moral responsibility of stepping down' from directing Housefull until he could 'prove the truth.'
— Sajid Khan (@SimplySajidK) October 12, 2018
Akshay Kumar, star of Housefull 4, announced on Friday that he had asked producers to suspend filming and that he would not work with 'proven offenders.'
— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) October 12, 2018
Apart from Nana Patekar and Sajid Khan, others from the film fraternity such as Alok Nath, Subhash Ghai, Kailash Kher and Vikas Bahl have been outed as alleged predators.
