After comedian Utsav Chakraborty was accused of predatory behaviour by almost a dozen women on Thursday, women journalists had also started naming and shaming men for sexual misconduct.
Back in 2005, I was 25, and taking shelter from the flood in Bombay at a colleague's house, @manojanthikad sent me a text, "I want to fuck you." He took my number from a mutual friend and decided to charm me when Bombay was drowning with that approach. https://t.co/andMvyuV5X
— Sandhya (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
Several men, many of them famous and working with ‘reputed’ organisations, have been named. Some of these incidents occurred several years ago, and considering the power and privilege that men hold in this profession, the women did not feel comfortable in publicly calling them out. Even today, many women have chosen to narrate their stories anonymously.
Since I'm calling them out.
Let me tell you about @KRSreenivas who is currently resident editor @toi Hyderabad (I think) who offered to drop me back after a day's work.
We were about to launch Bangalore mirror back in 2008 and I had just moved to this city.— Sandhya (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/Pavitra_J_/status/1048083169872957440
A former colleague who worked with at Bangalore Mirror just sent this to me. About @KRSreenivas
The man I was told by BCCL's greivance cell head to ignore because he was harmless. pic.twitter.com/fHjopRcviR
— Sandhya (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
And finally, one more calling out and I'm done.
Gautam Adhikari who was the editor in chief of DNA Bombay. His exec assistant and I were think friends and we'd go out a lot. Once he told her you girls are always going out, I'm new to the city show me some sights
— Sandhya (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
4. #TimesUp because in August 2017, a woman tweeted about being #violated by this man.
He replied: “I’m sorry. I did everything. …” pic.twitter.com/Eb7iPp1hKe
— Anoo Bhuyan (@AnooBhu) October 5, 2018
Author Kiran Nagarkar is one of the men who has been accused by several women. Retired Judge Kolse Patil, and singer Kailash Kher have also been named. Notably, many of the stories involve older, much powerful men preying on young women professionals.
More on Nagarkar pic.twitter.com/YKt1H7gsSp
— Sandhya (@TheRestlessQuil) October 5, 2018
I was an intern with Bloomberg Quint when @Mayank1029 was an employee there. At an office party, after getting shit drunk out of his mind, he tried to touch me inappropriately multiple times under the garb of casual flirting and dancing.
— Poorbita Bagchi (@PoorbitaB) October 5, 2018
Women’s voices continued to grow throughout the day. Well-known cultural critic Sadanand Menon, already facing several sexual harassment allegations, was also named by an ex-student of Asian College of Journalism (ACJ).
This is going to give me hell, but I'm going to do this for women and men everywhere who have and are interacting with him. Sadanand Menon. Please stay away from him. And please don't put him on panels. Thanks https://t.co/gKciplinWZ
— Divya Karthikeyan | divyakrthk.bsky.social (@divya_krthk) October 5, 2018
Reporting this here is going to give me a shit ton of trauma, but past and present students and mentees, leave. Now. He is a predator. He thinks a kiss on the cheek for appreciation is ok. He thinks pushing you against the wall of his bedroom is ok and soliciting is ok. Run. https://t.co/KBhd46CmIr
— Divya Karthikeyan | divyakrthk.bsky.social (@divya_krthk) October 5, 2018
Divya & so many other women at ACJ have been tirelessly speaking up against Sadanand Menon and it's honestly about time their trauma is taken seriously. He *needs* to faces consequences — it can't happen if he's being called for panels or writing columns in The Hindu. https://t.co/gH9axyub6y
— Poulomi Das (@PouloCruelo) October 5, 2018
While many women professionals understandably did not lodge formal complaints, there were those who did. Yet in many cases, adequate action was not taken. Journalists slammed media organisations for not taking sexual misconduct seriously and enabling predatory behaviour of powerful men.
Anyone – man or woman – who has ever worked at DNA will know the company has/had its fair share of creeps/harassers. Yes, there was a Vishakha Committee but it was just there for show. Complaints made to them in confidence somehow magically ended up becoming a public.
— Joanna (@thatdoggonelady) October 5, 2018
Indian journalism is a cesspool of these stories. And it thrives in an environment where jobs are few, positions of power acquired through networks of influence, and vulnerability frowned down upon. Thank you @AnooBhu, @TheRestlessQuil @priyakamal for signalling a change. #Metoo
— Nikita Saxena (@nikita1712) October 5, 2018
Journalist Raksha Kumar shared her article ‘When no isn’t yes’ published in The Hindu in 2014. In it, she explains how a male colleague had physically harassed her. Unfortunately, she notes in a tweet thread that four years on, the man in question has not suffered any consequences since then and continues to rise up the professional ladder.
In 2014, I wrote about a deeply insulting and uneasy intrusion into my personal space. On a lonely stretch on Delhi’s Lodhi Road, a fellow-journalist shoved his tongue down my throat, despite my repeated refusal. I thought I'd done my bit by writing abt it in a national newspaper
— Raksha Kumar (@Raksha_Kumar) October 5, 2018
Back then I’d written, “women who still see virtue in hiding abuse meted out against them or seeing it as a shame should also make conscious efforts to change themselves” But, was there a hidden feeling of shame that kept me from taking his name within media? #MeToo
— Raksha Kumar (@Raksha_Kumar) October 5, 2018
While this will certainly encourage more women to speak up, whether the accused men will face consequence remains to be seen. But men who have thrived on women’s silence need to be afraid. Women are speaking up, and everyone is listening.
Also, men who know they have a pattern of behaviour but have not been named yet, it’s not because you’re forgiven. It’s because speaking out takes so much energy. Also, be warned, Twitter is not the only place we are outing you. #MeToo
— Rohini Mohan (@rohini_mohan) October 5, 2018