Journalist TS Sudhir responds to #MeToo allegations against him, claims accuser 'distorted the truth'

Journalist TS Sudhir, who was accused of harassment by a woman last week amid the #MeToo movement in India, released a statement, clarifying his stand on the allegation. Sudhir said the tweets shared by former journalist Ratnika Sharma making the claims against him were “economical with the truth” and “have, in fact, distorted the truth”. [caption id=“attachment_5346771” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Sharma had alleged that Sudhir “started off with saying that he is lonely, wife has no time”. “He would be persistent until I yielded, and if I would say that this is inappropriate, or that I don’t like it, he would immediately say things like, oh, this is just a joke,” she had alleged. “If I wouldn’t reply to his lewd messages, the whole day, he would be super rude to me and made sure my stories weren’t aired.” She said she later left journalism. In his statement, Sudhir said, “The said person used a word like ‘yielded’, which made it seem that there were physical demands made that she had to meet. Nothing of the sort ever happened.” “The only thing my former colleagues and others can complain about is that I am intolerant of a bad attitude and shoddy work… I did think that this person during that period was distracted and was not paying her full attention to professional responsibilities and I have reprimanded her for it.” Sudhir further claimed that on one occasion, when he and Sharma were colleagues, she had organised a surprise birthday party for him, bought a cake and presented him with a book. “Please note that this is during the time that she now claims she was ‘harassed,’” he added. However, the journalist said he expressed his apologies if he had “unwittingly caused hurt or pain” to Sharma. Editor’s note: TS Sudhir is a freelance contributor to Firstpost. He is not employed by the website.  Network 18, of which Firstpost is a part, has received complaints of sexual harassment as well. The complaints which are within the purview of the workplace have been forwarded to our PoSH committee for appropriate action.