Calls growing louder for #MeToo accused Sajid Khan’s removal from ‘Big Boss’
Delhi Women’s Commission chief Swati Maliwal has called for the ouster of film director-comedian Sajid Khan from the reality show, ‘Big Boss’, whose 16th season began on October 1. Maliwal said Khan should be in jail and not on the reality show.
The reason is that Sajid Khan was one of the persons accused of sexual harassment during the Me Too movement. Over 10 actresses, models and journalists had spoken about and lodged written complaints against him. Subsequently, he was suspended from the Indian Film and Television Directors Association for a year.
The commission wrote a letter to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, seeking his removal from the primetime show.
Amid the growing anger over Khan being in ‘Big Boss’, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) said he is allowed to work as he has served his punishment.
However, many women, including activists and those he harassed, are not being able to take this, saying how can such a person be allowed to claim glory in a reality show, and that his one-year sentence was too little punishment, considering the gravity of his crime.
“As a society, we don’t care about women’s safety at the workplace. We have no conception of why sexual harassment is unacceptable unless it’s a big physical transgression,” Swara Bhaskar told Hindustan Times.
Actor Tanushree Dutta, who became the face of the Me Too movement in India, too slammed the, what she called, “rehabilitation”.
Writer Vinta Nanda, who accused Alok Nath of sexual harassment, said “the basic shift in perceptions and behaviours hasn’t taken place after Me Too happened”.
Another actor Kanishka Soni has come out with her story of harassment at Sajid Khan’s hands now in a video on Instagram. “I feel so insecure while telling you all the whole truth, these powerful personalities can kill me anytime,” she wrote.
She also asked Salman Khan, who is closely associated with ‘Big Boss’, “My question is for @beingsalmankhan ji who is my fav & everyone’s , how come he doesn’t look at the characters big boss choose before selecting anyone for big boss?”
Not just Sajid Khan, many are also questioning about other famous people called out during the Me Too movement, like ad personality Suhel Seth and editor and former Union minister MJ Akbar and several others, not receiving any punishment and just being allowed to go on with their lives.
