#MeToo in India: Journalist Vinod Dua named in harassment allegation dating back 29 years

Ten days after All India Backchod collaborator and writer-comic Utsav Chakraborty was named in a series of sexual harassment allegations, #MeToo stories continue to tumble out on social media timelines in India. Figures from the world of media (journalism and advertising), entertainment, and business have been the focus of a slew of allegations , covering a wide range of behaviour – from making unwelcome advances or sending inappropriate messages to making lewd comments, harassment and assault. Among the #MeToo allegations to have emerged recently is one against veteran journalist Vinod Dua. In a Facebook post dated 14 October, filmmaker Nishtha Jain has detailed sexual harassment she allegedly suffered at the hands of Dua, when she met him in June 1989. [caption id=“attachment_5377081” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Vinod Dua. Image via Facebook/@vinoddua[/caption] Jain says she was a recent graduate of Jamia Mass Communication Centre at the time, and had an interview with Dua (who was known for having hosted the popular TV series Janvani) for a new show, a political satire. “Before I could settle down,he began telling a lewd sexual joke in that soft voice, barely opening his mouth. I don’t remember the joke but it wasn’t worth a laugh, just dirty. I felt hot in my face and I sat there, most probably with an angry look,” Jain writes in her Facebook post. Jain says Dua humiliated her during the interview, especially for ‘daring’ to ask for a fee of Rs 5,000 for the project. She writes that she went home, and told her family of the incident. A little later, she got a job as a video editor in Newstrack. She alleges that Dua was aware of her having taken up this new job, and her timings, and when she left office late one evening, found him waiting in the parking lot in an SUV. “He said he wanted to talk to me and asked me to enter his car. Assuming that he wanted to apologise for his behaviour, I entered the car but before I could even settle down he began slobbering all over my face. I managed to get out and get into my office car and leave. I spotted him again in the parking in the coming nights and would go right back and wait till someone was ready to leave along with me in the office car. After a few days he stopped stalking me,” Jain writes in her Facebook post. She claimed that she found Dua’s championing of #MeToo hypocritical in light of her own experience with him. The Wire, where Dua is a consulting editor, issued a statement in response to Jain’s allegations later on Sunday — We have seen Nishtha Jain’s Facebook post where she accuses Vinod Dua, a consulting editor of The Wire, of an incident of sexual harassment in 1989. Dua denies the charges. Though the incident pertains to 26 years before Mr Dua’s association with The Wire, our ICC has taken note of Ms Jain’s allegation. We await the outcome of their deliberations in the matter. 

Statement on allegations against @VinodDua7 pic.twitter.com/7XFj21SzM9

— The Wire (@thewire_in) October 14, 2018

Actor and comedian Mallika Dua, daughter of Vinod, also released a statement addressing the allegations. She 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”. At the time of the publication, Vinod Dua had not released a statement himself,  even though he had earlier conveyed to Firstpost that he would do so. ***

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.