‘HE TRIED TO PUT HIS HAND IN MY PANTS’: SAQIB’S #METOO MOMENT
Actor Saqib Saleem recalls being sexually harassed at a work meeting when he was just 21
With female actors such as Tanushree Dutta and Sandhya Mridul, among many others, sharing their sexual harassment stories through social media, the #MeToo movement has gained pace in India.
In this atmosphere, the fight is no more gender-specific, says Race 3 actor Saqib Saleem, who shares his story of meeting someone on professional grounds and being harassed. “I don’t want to take names, but when I started out as an actor — I was only 21 years old — a man tried to assault me. He tried to put his hand in my pants.”
Recalling the shock of that moment, the 30-year-old actor says that his instinct was to hit this man, who happened to be gay. “I smashed the person,” says Saqib. The actor also makes it clear that he was reacting not to that person’s sexuality but to what he did. “I have gay friends, and they’re the most wonderful friends I’ve ever made. I don’t blame the person’s sexuality in this matter; it is the person’s mentality,” says Saqib. “When it happened with me, I whacked the guy and I told him to mind his own f ****** g business, and I left. I was 21, and of course, it scarred me, but I moved on. I’m sure that an incident such as this must affect people differently.”
Saqib adds that having grown up around women, he feels all the more strongly for those who have faced abuse. “I can empathise with every girl who has been abused. It made me disgusted, so I know what women go through,” says Saqib. “Every sexual offender should be punished in the severest manner.”
The actor cautions all the same that this movement is not to be misused. “These stories are heartbreaking and sexual offenders are horrible people. But now the government needs to figure out a way. The country is in a position where a Twitter trial is happening. You should call out a person on social media, but there’s also a legal system in our country. We should go to court and take a legal recourse.”