A woman who worked as an assistant director for Rajkumar Hirani's Sanju has accused him of sexual harassment. A few days ago, there was a blind item mentioning the same.

Rajkumar Hirani accused of sexual harassment by a woman who worked with him as an assistant director of Sanju. In her complaint, she mentioned that Hirani abused her sexually more than once over a period of 6 months between March and September 2018/ The woman mentioned that Rajkumar allegedly harassed her sexually during the post-production of Sanju. The film starred in the lead role and was based on Sanjay Dutt's life.

As reported by Huff Post India, the woman sent a mail regarding the same to Sanju's co-producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra. She also marked Chopra's wife Anupama Chopra in the mail along with scriptwriter Abhijat Joshi, Vidhu Vinod Chopra's sister and director Shelly Chopra. Rajkumar Hirani has denied all the allegations through his lawyer Anand Desai. Desai told HuffPost India, "At the outset, our client states that the allegations made against him are false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory."

In her email, the woman mentioned that Rajkumar Hirani first made a sexually suggestive remark to her on April 9, 2018, and also sexually assaulted her at his home-office. She wrote in the email, "I remember forming these words on my lips - “Sir. This is wrong...Because of this power structure. You being the absolute power and me being a mere assistant, a nobody - I will never be able to express myself to you."

She also mentioned, "My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months."

"I had no choice but to be polite to him. It was unbearable but the reason I endured it all, until I couldn’t, was because I didn’t want my job to be taken away from me, and work to be questioned. Ever. I was worried that if I left midway, it would be impossible to find another job in this industry if he were to speak badly about my work. Because if Hirani said I wasn’t good, everybody would listen. My future would be in jeopardy," the woman told the portal.

When Hirani was asked about the allegations on December 7 and 15, 2018, he refused to answer the questions. Instead, he shared printouts of the text messages between him and the woman.

His lawyer said, "These communications establish that the allegations made against our client to you, that have given rise to your queries, are false and completely unjustified."

In an email to the portal on December 15, Desai wrote, "Our client Mr. Rajkumar Hirani has instructed us to state that he has granted you inspection of the written communications twice, the second time being today, when the same were organised in chronological sequence, pointing out the written communications from the “complainant” in context of the timelines of the allegations made by the ”complainant” resulting in your questions. It should now be absolutely clear to you that the allegations made by the ”complainant” are not only false, but are malicious and defamatory."

Vidhu Vinod Chopra was also asked about the allegations. However, he didn't respond. But his wife Anupama Chopra confirmed in an email that the woman had told her story to them.

Anupama Chopra's email read,

"I’ve met the complainant twice. Both times, I have offered my full support and recommended that she take the complaint to a legal body or a neutral party since we cannot be arbitrators or judges on this. We also offered to set up an ICC at VCF (which we have set up since then) even though a VCF ICC could not have taken up the case since she was an RHF (Rajkumar Hirani Films) employee at the time. These are two separate companies.

She stayed at our house for two nights. We also provided the number of an expert on the issue so she could talk to a professional.

She said she needed time to think through how she will take it forward. I did not want in any way to pressurise her or steer her in any direction. As Vinod and I told her then, she has our full support and we are fully respectful of whatever decision she has taken."

Abhijat Joshi, who wrote most of the scripts for Rajkumar Hirani's films said, "It’s my duty to listen to the woman patiently. I am here to support her,” Joshi said. “I’m trying to do the best thing possible. I can assure you that I will do what is ethical."

Credits :Huff Post India

Read More