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1. Shamir Reuben
2. Mahesh Murthy
3. Arunabh Kumar
These are just three out of the many names that have been called out and shamed on social media over sexual harassment allegations in the last one year or so alone. Today, with Utsav Chakraborty’s name added to this list, these question beg to be asked – how long does the impact of social media outrage last? Have any of these people been taken to task legally? And where does the case built against them stand at the moment?
Read on to find out.
The 52-year-old angel investor was first called out for molesting, stalking and sending sexually explicit text messages to a Delhi-based woman entrepreneur who complained about him to the National Commission for Women (NCW) in 2017. In December 2017, Murthy was booked under multiple sections of the IPC and the IT Act and arrested by the Mumbai police.
Quoting NCW officials, The News Minute reported that one of the complainants claimed that Murthy sent her an offensive and explicit text message. Another woman said that he molested her at a coffee shop at Taj Land’s End in Mumbai.
In March, another FIR was filed against Murthy for sexual harassment and outraging a woman’s modesty. This time, he had already applied for an anticipatory bail plea that he was granted with conditions.
Murthy countered the allegations and called them defamatory.
Mahesh Murthy has been directed by the court to visit Bandra police station on the 1st and 15th of every month till the police file a chargesheet in the case. Murthy was also directed to deposit his passport with the investigating officer in April 2018 and asked not to leave India without prior permission from the court.
Shamir Reuben, slam poet and a member of Kommune – an art and live performance collective, was accused by a fellow poet on social media of sexual misconduct and harassment. The woman wrote that Shamir Reuben repeatedly sent sexually explicit comments and asked her for nude pictures, despite her making her disinterest clear.
In this instance too, multiple complainants, including those who were minor at the time of the incident, responded in the same thread, recounting their experience with him.
Following the string of allegations, Reuben issued a statement where he apologised and sought forgiveness from those he had ‘inadvertently wronged’.
Kommune reacted by suspending Reuben pending investigation into the allegations.
However, since no complaints were made to the police, no legal action has been initiated against Shamir Reuben.
Can There Be Legal Action Against Harassers Outed Only On Social Media?
Just recently, the Mumbai police appealed to a complainant who levelled allegations of harassment against comedian Utsav Chakraborty, to lodge a formal complaint. But is lodging a formal complaint the only way to get the cops to investigate? Legal experts say that while the police can take suo moto cognizance of the incident, an FIR is generally filed in harassment cases only once the victim files a complaint.
Furthermore, for a case to be successful, a complainant who can go before the court to verify the nature of the crime and the harassment that they underwent, is a must.
“In rape cases itself when the conviction rate is 29-30%, then do you think there will be convictions in harassment cases? I doubt it. Because there are no witnesses, they turn hostile, the evidences are not there. For cyber bullying for instance, people don’t save clips or take pictures. That’s the reason why conviction is so low,” adds advocate Abha Singh.
In March 2017, even before the #MeToo campaign took the world by storm, Arunabh Kumar, the founder of TVF, was slapped with sexual harassment charges by a former employee.
The initial complaint opened a can of worms, with several other women also accusing the former TVF CEO of harassing women employees. Kumar was booked under sections 354A (causing sexual harassment), 509 (intending to outrage a woman's modesty by indecent words, gesture or acts) of the IPC. Arrested and then released as he had secured bail, Kumar was forced to step down from his post as the CEO of TVF.
Mumbai’s MIDC police filed a 275-page chargesheet against Arunabh Kumar in May 2017. The chargesheet listed detailed statements by 15 witnesses, including the woman who who had alleged harassment. The Indian Express reported that the police said that there was proof to suggest that the victim and the accused were in the same place that day and that the cops had a strong case against Kumar.
While hearings in this case are yet to begin, Arunabh Kumar has reportedly returned to TVF. While he isn’t the CEO of the company any longer, Mid-Day reported that Kumar still very much works at TVF.
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