India's #MeToo movement gets a boost towards justice as lawyers offer free legal aid to survivors

India is currently witnessing a massive awakening, with several women calling out their sexual offenders, mainly from the media and entertainment industry. In wake of the allegations, lawyers are now offering free legal assistance to survivors of sexual harassment.

In the past few days, several legal practitioners on Twitter have been mentioning their respective jurisdictions, while coming out in support of harassment survivors.

While some of these lawyers are ready to offer complete help, others are specifying the areas in which they will specifically offer assistance.

Will be able to help with drafting and legal advice in Mumbai. Unfortunately will not be able to appear before a court.

— Whiskey_Devil 🇮🇳 (@whisky_devil) October 8, 2018

A Twitter user also started a thread where all lawyers are pitching in the kind of help they are ready to offer.

Another Twitter account created a form to create a “support team” consisting of professionals ready to offer help and support. The final list of the professionals willing to extend support is available here .

2/n. If you would like to join the support team and offer your professional help/support, please fill the form below and share it so it includes more cities and reaches more people in need of support:https://t.co/uZ47IzpHAH

— I Will Go Out (@iwillgoout2017) October 8, 2018

This comes days after a Twitter user accused writer-actor Utsav Chakraborty , who was once associated with All India Bakchod, of sending sexually explicit messages to her and several other women.

Netizens called out AIB co-founder and CEO Tanmay Bhat for not acting on complaints regarding Chakraborty. On Monday, AIB said in a statement that while Bhat has “stepped away” from the collective, his colleague Gursimran Khamba has been placed on “temporary leave”.

Last week, Bollywood actress Tanushree Dutta had filed a written complaint  against industry veteran Nana Patekar for sexually harassing her on the sets of a 2008 film. However, Patekar has denied the charges and maintained on Monday that the “truth” he spoke 10 years ago  stands true today and will continue to be.

With inputs from agencies