Twitterati on TVF Molestation case: Nidhi Bisht supports Arunabh Kumar, Aditi Mittal slams TVF

Arunabh Kumar, CEO and founder of The Viral Fever (TVF), a leading web production house in India, has been accused of sexual harassment by one woman in an article on Medium , another woman in a Facebook post , and one more in an interview with The Quint. They have all described the situations in which Kumar encountered and molested them. TVF has denied all allegations so far, while also claiming that they are investigating the Medium blog for its authenticity.

Kumar himself has responded to the allegations, by claiming he welcomes the victim to file an FIR.

Here’s what people who work at TVF and others on Twitter had to say about the issue.

Nidhi Bisht said that she thinks TVF is one of “the best places for women to work”. She says that the reason she dismissed the Medium article was because she does not remember any employee by that description. She also said that allegations about TVF’s lack of human resource and sexual harassment redressal systems are false.

My side. pic.twitter.com/cS6tfD2dVd

— Nidhi Bisht (@EkThapaTiger) March 13, 2017

Biswapati Sarkar, creative director at TVF, posted multiple tweets.  

Stand-up comic Aditi Mittal criticised the comedy industry for its “defeaning silence”.

Silence from the comedy community is deafening.EVERYONE still"texting contacts"/"verifying facts" inspite of hearing stories abt it for yrs?

— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

She says that this is the reason why the proportion of women in the Indian comedy scene is so low.

And THAT my friends is why "there are so few female comics" a question that I get CONSTANTLY asked as if I should have the ans to the ques.

— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

Amit Golani, director at TVF, defended the company in this manner:

Mittal said that content producers use feminism as a sales strategy, also adding that journalists reporting the story should be speaking to male comedians, not female ones.

The fact that the diggaj-log of comedy who make videos & even take money from brands for their saleable feminism are quiet today is telling

— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

Journos calling all the women in comedy to go on record-- NO. Call the men. See how much they defend their brohood now. Enough is enough.

— Aditi Mittal (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

Utsav Chakraborty, a stand-up comic, made a point about how the anonymity and alleged false nature of the victim’s article had led to other women coming out with similar stories.

Twitter user @LiteraryBadass emphasised that many women do not complain about incidents of abuse because they fear that they will lose their jobs.

9 times TVF founder was accused of harassment by female colleagues and how we cannot report it because bread and butter

— Mo (@LiteraryBadass) March 13, 2017

Buzzfeed editor Rega Jha echoed this sentiment, adding that reporting abuse may lead to being criticised by the entire industry.

The founders of All India Bakchod (AIB) spoke and about the role of the organisation in such cases, the fact that such an incident took place at all, and what should be done.

I know many founders are reading this right now - do a townhall tomorrow. Tell your employees that there is a way to address their problems.

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017

Sickened by all the allegations coming to the fore. There's no place for such behaviour in 2017.

— Ashish Shakya (@stupidusmaximus) March 13, 2017

They were also accused of taking advantage of this situation to verbally beat up their competitors. Rohan Joshi responded to such tweets with this:

Sorabh Pant, founder of East India Comedy, said that the issue was larger than the industry.

Many Twitter users took to “correcting” the official response put out by TVF. Kaanmasti creator and ex-VJ José Covaco was one of them.

Fixed TVF's official response. pic.twitter.com/GRQkmXnBwW

— pAgaL_P₹oj3ct (@HoeZaay) March 13, 2017

Stand-up comedian Kanan Gill said that what may be “acceptable” for some could still make others uncomfortable.

It's vital to learn what sexual harassment is. The "harmless" things you think you say and do could be making people very uncomfortable

— Kanan Gill (@KananGill) March 14, 2017

it doesn't matter whether this behaviour is normal in the pop culture you consume. Barney saying it on HIMYM doesn't absolve you

— Kanan Gill (@KananGill) March 14, 2017

Filmnaker Apurva Asrani said that he was sharing the Medium article because he knew someone else who went through the same situation. He added that TVF had not followed protocol.

Hansal Mehta, director of Aligarh and Shahid, said that harassment of all kinds must be denounced and emphasised that the root of it is perceived power that some employees have over others.

Harassment at the workplace must be denounced. Whether it is sexual, mental or the result of a person's perceived power over the other.

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) March 13, 2017

It is disturbing to read about #ArunabhKumar and even more disturbing to read TVF's rebuttal.

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) March 13, 2017