The entire film industry was taken aback after actress Tanushree Dutta accused actor Nana Patekar of sexual harassment on the sets of Horn Ok Please in 2008, a fortnight earlier. Since the past few days, The #MeToo movement has created enough tension for many celebrities as victims coming out of their closest and sharing their shocking stories.
Many celebrities have come out in the support of the victims through social media, while prominent names which have popped out and been accused of sexual assault director are Vikas Bahl, Rajat Kapoor, Alok Nath among others.
On Tuesday morning, another name that joined the list is writer-comedian Varun Grover who has been accused of misconduct with the woman. Author Harnidh Kaur took to her Twitter account and shared the screenshots of the victim.
https://twitter.com/PedestrianPoet/status/1049559396160823296
The survivor shared her account anonymously with a Twitter user and alleged that Varun sexually harassed her in 2001. According to the survivor, she and the accused were students at the Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, when the alleged incident took place. The survivor said Varun was a year senior and was part of the dramatics society which is why their interaction seemed normal at first. However, as per her account, the situation escalated into Varun engaging in sexual misconduct.
However, Varun rubbished all the allegations against him and termed them baseless. His tweet read, “I completely, totally, categorically deny all the allegations being made. The screenshot in question is untrue, misleading, and defamatory to say the least. Issuing a detailed statement soon.”
https://twitter.com/varungrover/status/1049579631806963712
Varun Grover is noted writer and lyricist and has films like Masaan, Gangs of Wasseupur, NH10, Raman Raghav, Sui Dhaga: Made In India, Newton to his credits.
Anurag Kashyap, who has been a longtime collaborator, tweeted in support of Grover. Even Masaan director Neeraj Ghaywan, has defended Varun.
https://twitter.com/anuragkashyap72/status/1049593902347538435
https://twitter.com/ghaywan/status/1049587252349849601
https://twitter.com/ghaywan/status/1049587255076184066
https://twitter.com/ghaywan/status/1049598037956415488
Varun had recently apologized for having enabled Vikas Bahl, who stands accused of sexual harassment too, indirectly, by working at Phantom Films.
