Tanushree Dutta responds to legal notices by Nana Patekar, Vivek Agnihotri: That's the price you pay for speaking up

Tanushree Dutta has been sent two legal notices from Nana Patekar and director  Vivek Agnihotri on Wednesday after she accused them of sexual harassment and misconduct. [caption id=“attachment_5280661” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Tanushree Dutta. Image via Facebook[/caption] Agnihotri denied allegations of “misbehaviour and/or harassment” levelled by Dutta on 4 October, saying the claims “have been borne with an intent to attract publicity and wreak personal vendetta” against the filmmaker. His lawyer Nidhish Mehrotra said they had sued Dutta on charges of defamation. “The allegations levelled against my client Mr Vivek Agnihotri  by Ms Tanushree Dutta  for misbehaviour and/or harassment are absolutely false, frivolous and vexatious. These allegations are deliberate and have been borne with an intent to attract publicity and wreak personal vendetta against my client with mala-fide intentions. On the instruction of my client, we have served a legal notice to initiate defamation action against her,” he said. The statement by Agnihotri’s lawyer further said all the news agencies that have engaged in unethical and immoral conduct to promote sensational journalism without any diligence or proper verification and with the intent of defaming his client. In reaction to the notices, the actress issued a statement saying, “I have been slapped with two legal notices today. One from Nana Patekar and another from Vivek Agnihotri. This is the price you pay for speaking out against harassment, humiliation and injustice in India. Both Nana and Vivek Agnihotri’s teams are on a smear campaign against me by constructing outright lies and misinformation on social media platforms and other public platforms. Their supporters are coming ahead and weaving damming allegations against me even shouting at the top of their voices at press conferences. Today while I was at home and the police personnel posted outside my home were on a lunch break two unnamed suspicious individuals tried getting into our home uninvited but were stopped just in time by security personnel in the building. Later the police came back from their break and secured the premises again. Violent threats are being issued against me by the MNS party.” She further continues, “I’m being threatened to be dragged into the court and legal system of India which we all know can keep a woman and her supporters as well as media silent on the pretext of “matter sub-judice” but can also further be used to harass her and drain her out financially. ‘Tareek pe tareek pe tareek’ and the dawn of justice never arrives and her whole life goes waste awaiting justice while witnesses are intimidated, discredited or simply drained of their will to stand up.. False witnesses supporting perpetrators conjured up to further weaken her case. Court cases can run for decades without a hope for a conclusion. At the end an empty shell remains, broken hopes, A life wasted, defeated. This is the age-old saga of survivors in our nation. I walked away once from the same environment that was created for me 10 years ago… Found God, found my healing, found my peace and a new life in the United States of America. And now I stand to lose this new life too if I allow myself to get embroiled in the court system of India. And you wanted to know why the #MeToo movement hasn’t happened in India…This is why…” as reported by Times Now. Dutta had earlier shared that she had received threats of violence from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena following which Mumbai Police had offered her 24-hour protection. Dutta, who shot to fame with Aashiq Banaya Aapne, claimed Patekar had a history of molesting an physically assaulting women which has been overlooked by celebrities who continue to cast him in big projects. She has reiterated on various public platforms that the #MeToo movement will not reach India unless people continue to ignore what happened to her on the sets of Horn OK Pleasss ten years ago. (With inputs from Press Trust of India) Also read — Tanushree Dutta-Nana Patekar row: With reluctant responses, Hindi cinema’s old guard exposes its banality