In a story authored by Nikita Saxena, published in The Caravan magazine on Monday, November 12, journalist Vidya Krishnan has alleged that Gaurav C Sawant, defence journalist and now an executive editor at India Today, had sexually assaulted her 15 years ago.
In 2002-03, when Sawant was a guest lecturer at Amity University, Krishnan was one of his students. Krishnan, now a senior journalist herself — former health and science editor at The Hindu — recounted that when she was 20-years-old and had started working with The Pioneer right after graduation, she had accompanied Sawant on an assignment to a military station at Beas in Punjab. “I went in thinking, ‘Okay, my teacher’s here… I can ask him if I have any doubts,’ she told The Caravan.
Sawant first harassed her when they were travelling in a military jeep with an Indian army representative and other reporters. Sawant, who was sitting right behind her, placed his hand on her shoulder. Even as she tried brushing it off as an accident, Sawant soon moved his hand to her breast. “My body was frozen still,” she said, adding that she didn’t feel confident or secure enough to say anything at the moment.
Throughout the journey, Krishnan recounts that she was extremely uncomfortable. “I remember checking constantly, ‘When are we going to reach — are we there yet, are we there yet,’” at which, Sawant reportedly commented, “Tumhe pahuchne ki badi jaldi hai (You seem to be in a hurry to reach).”
Sawant’s behaviour reportedly took a turn for the worse that night. Back in her hotel room, Krishnan allegedly received a text from him, saying that he wanted to come to her room. Krishnan recounts how she wanted to say no without appearing to be rude — he was a powerful and famous journalist, she was a cub reporter. Sawant, after that, allegedly told her that he had “nothing naughty” in mind, and “he just wanted to get into a bathtub with her”.
Krishnan said that despite having declined his offer, Sawant still turned up at her room. “In my mind, there was a fear that I might have to end up doing what he wanted,” she recounted, “I was not confident that I could stand my ground and say ‘No.’”
Minutes after entering her room, Sawant unzipped his pants and tried to force Krishnan’s hand on his penis. “He had not backed off… I had it made it very visible to him that this was an unwelcome advance. He had not backed off,” Krishnan said. “I felt like he was overpowering me, which is why in my panic I started screaming.”
As her screaming became louder, Sawant allegedly backed off. She said “I think there was some sense of decency where he was like, ‘Okay, I can’t rape her,’ so he went away at that point.” She added that, “He could have very well decided not to and there’s nothing I could have done, at least that’s how I felt at that point… I totally felt like if he had decided to go the other way, he could have.”
Krishnan said that she called her boyfriend right after Sawant left, who confirmed to Saxena that Krishnan had spoken to him about the alleged sexual assault that night. He said, “She was very traumatised,” he said. “When she called me, she was howling literally … I think she did kind of look up to him, so it was all quite shocking.”
Sawant reportedly did not respond to The Caravan’s emails. India Today, where Sawant is currently employed, is yet to put out a statement in the matter.