Mallika Dua issues statement on sexual harassment claim against father Vinod: 'Not my battle to fight'

Actress-comedienne Mallika Dua issued a statement with regards to the sexual harassment charges against her journalist father Vinod Dua after she was called out by many on Twitter for vocally supporting the #MeToo movement in India. [caption id=“attachment_5330121” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Mallika Dua. Image via Facebook[/caption] Mallika clarified that it was not her “battle to fight”. Though she will stand by her father as he fights his battle, she will continue to “stand up against bigotry, misogyny, stand up for survivors”. In a Facebook post dated 14 October, filmmaker Nishtha Jain gave an account of the sexual harassment she allegedly suffered at the hands of the veteran journalist. The incident dates 29 years to 1989.

Mallika has been vehemently supporting the #MeToo movement on Twitter, retweeting the survivors’ accounts which had allegations against the likes of filmmaker Sajid Khan , casting directors Mukesh Chhabra and Vicky Sidana, Marathi filmmaker Nagraj Manjule, politician MJ Akbar and filmmaker Subhash Ghai among many others. She also replied to colleague Tanmay Bhat’s confession that he should have been more prudent while approaching a sexual harassment grievance at All India Bakchod with a “You should have”. Additionally, she criticised the “all boys’ culture at talent management agency Only Much Louder (OML), alleging that they got her fellow comedian Zakir Khan paid twice as much as her for doing the same job, judging The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.