RAJKUMAR HIRANI ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

In the latest instance of Bollywood biggies being accused of sexual misconduct, film-maker Rajkumar Hirani has been accused of sexual assault by a woman who was working with him on Sanju (2018). According to HuffPost India, the woman has said that Hirani sexually abused her on more than one occasion over a six-month period between March and September 2018.

In an email addressed to producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, the woman said that on April 9, 2018, Hirani first made a sexually suggestive remark to her and then sexually assaulted her at his home-office. “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’. My mind, body and heart were grossly violated that night and for the next 6 months,” she wrote. In her interview with HuffPost India, the complainant said that she took great pains to conceal Hirani’s actions towards her as her father was suffering from a terminal illness. “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. 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,” she said.

Hirani, responding through his lawyer Anand Desai, has denied the allegations. “At the outset, our client states that the allegations made against him are false, mischievous, scandalous, motivated and defamatory,” Desai said in an email dated December 5, 2018 to HuffPost India.

HT couldn’t independently verify the allegations and the responses.

PHOTO: RAAJESSH KASHYAP/HT