Mumbai: Tanshuree Dutta, who arguably started the #MeToo movement in India by accusing Nana Patekar of sexual harassment, registered a fresh FIR with Mumbai Police on Thursday, detailing what had transpired on the sets of 2008 film Horn OK Pleasss and the immediate repercussions she faced for standing up to the veteran actor.
In the FIR, which has been accessed by News18, Tanushree has recounted how Patekar allegedly grabbed and pushed her on the pretext of teaching dance moves and touched her "indecently" in front of everyone. She said Patekar was on the sets during the shooting of the song even though his part was long over and he introduced new parts in the song, despite her protests.
The 34-year-old alleged that when she complained to the director, producer and choreographer of the film, they assured her that the issue would be sorted but later tried to force her to perform intimate dance moves with Patekar. The police have named all four - Nana Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang - in the FIR.
She said that after the film’s director and producer ignored her complaint, she went to the film body CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes' Association) but they too didn’t act on it and closed the case without probing the sexual harassment charge.
Next when she approached the Goregaon police station to file a complaint, Tanushree said the “statement was not recorded as per my say” and several parts of the complaint were omitted.
“Only the FIR for the offence of causing damage to my car and riot was registered against a particular media person and the mob. The main grievance of sexual harassment by the above main culprits was left out of the FIR,” she said in her complaint on Thursday. She said she accepted the FIR at the time as it was in Marathi.
“After this incident I was threatened, pressured, put under undue influence, faced the threat of boycott from the film industry,” she said, adding that Patekar, Siddiqui, Acharya and political party MNS threatened to implicate her in a false case if she didn’t take back her complaint.
She also elaborated on her ordeal after her failed attempts to pursue the complaint. "After the above incident, I was under tremendous shock and suffered psychological trauma and was unable to take up work and suffered huge monetary loss in crores of rupees,” she said.
She now plans to approach the Bombay High Court, seeking action against the police personnel who did not register her complaint in 2008.
“This is criminal negligence on part of the Mumbai Police. I will seek action against them. I am also going to file a PIL seeking a body to look into all the #MeToo stories that the industry's women have shown the courage to speak on. Tanushree feels, she should help others get justice," advocate Nitin Satpute, who represents Tanushree, told CNN News18.
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