October has been an emotional month for India. Years of suppressed frustration and rage were finally let out by survivors of sexual harassment. Numerous men in powerful positions across industries were called out for their misconducts. While some of them accepted their crimes and apologised for it, others vehemently denied the allegations against them and are even gearing up for a legal battle with the women who came forward.
Adding to the names of famous men who have been accused of being sexual predators, singer Shweta Pandit has come forward with her #MeToo story.
Joining the #MeToo wave on Twitter, she has accused music composer Anu Malik of having made sexual advances towards her when she was just 15.
Thanking singer Sona Mohapatra for first coming out with the harassment she has faced from Malik, Shweta wrote:
“Had to go back to my worst memory as a teenage girl today to write this and speak up – it’s now or never.
this is my #metoo and i have to warn young girls about anu malik and let you know your #timesup.”
She attached a detailed statement with the tweet describing the sexual harassment she claims she faced from the music composer. It reads:
Shweta continues with her account of the event describing how things had taken a horrifying turn inside the cabin:
“He asked me to sing something without any music as he wanted to hear my voice. I remember I sang the title song of ‘Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega‘ as a voice test for this man. I sang it well so he said, “I’ll give you this song with Sunidhi and Shaan but first give me a kiss now.” He then smiled, what I’d recall as the most evil grin I’ve seen. I went numb and pale in the face. I was only 15 years old then, still in school. Can anyone even imagine what it felt like at that moment? It felt like someone had just stabbed me in my stomach. I referred to this man as ‘Anu uncle‘, he knew my entire family for decades and knew us as a respected gharana of musicians for generations who have given our entire lives dedicated to music for 4 generations.
He addressed my father as ‘Mandheer bhai’. And he does this to his bhai’s daughter? He has 2 young daughters of his own and that’s how he treated a 15-year-old minor girl.”
She goes on to describe how this incident had affected her mentally as a young girl:
Here’s the tweet in which she has detailed it all:
Had to go back to my worst memory as a teenage girl today to write this and speak up – its now or never. This is my #MeToo and have to warn young girls about #AnuMalik & let you know your #TimesUp @IndiaMeToo
Thank you @sonamohapatra for speaking up about him & supporting this pic.twitter.com/e261pGQyEq— Shweta Pandit (@ShwetaPandit7) October 17, 2018
Sona Mohapatra reached out in support to Shweta following her tweet:
Sending you love,big healing & strength @ShwetaPandit7 .That #AnuMalik did this to you as a child is something #India has to make note of.Thank U so much for being brave & bringing this out in the open.I know how difficult that is & the pressure to let ‘bygones be bygones’. (1)
— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) October 17, 2018
She followed it up with a response to those who had scoffed at her allegations against Anu Malik:
That so many people trolled me for my #AnuMalik #TimesUp story scoffing because they think calling me ‘Maal’ or calling up at odd hours doesn’t constitute as sexual harassment.Please note,you DONT KNOW SHIT.Predators do much worse when they get a chance because of people like you
— Sona Mohapatra (@sonamohapatra) October 17, 2018
Each day more and more names of so-called idols come out with allegations of sexual harassment. It raises the question, if these are proven to be true, is it the fame and power that let men believe they can get away with treating women as just objects of their sexual fantasies or is it a quality deeply ingrained in the entire gender by our society?