The alleged rape of a minor by TV actor Pearl V Puri has stirred the proverbial horent’s nest once again. By now, celebrities accused of rape is nothing new. In fact with some big names involved, especially during #MeToo, the list almost appears to be like a roll of honour (of infamy, of course).
Here is that list:
Shiney Ahuja: He is the first name that comes to mind, mainly because while many other Bollywood biggies got away, Shiney was arrested after his maid accused him of rape in 2009. The ‘Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi’, ‘Gangster’, ‘Life in a Metro’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ paid a heavy price in terms of his career. The charges were later retracted and Ahuja was released on bail but the damage had been done.
Alok Nath: A big name and a ‘sansksari’ one to boot, he got embroiled in #MeToo when his ‘Tara’ co-actor Navneet Nishan pointed fingers at him for sexually violating her almost two decades ago. She was backed by actor Sandhya Mridul and another anonymous crew member who accused Alok Nath of sexual misconduct on the sets of the movie ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’
Nana Patekar: The ‘righteous’ actor has mud slung on him by Tanushree Dutta who accused him of sexual misconduct on the sets of their 2008 movie ‘Horn Ok Please’. The actress even said that Nana Patekar has a history of assaulting women. The complaint was filed in October 2018 and the investigation was closed on June 13, 2019.
Vikas Bahl: The celebrated ‘Queen’ director was accused of sexually assaulting a female employee of his company Phantom Films. Bahl was one of the partners among Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena. The production house didn’t take a stand for months and finally announced its dissolution. After these allegations, ‘Queen’ lead actress Kangana Ranaut also voiced out her #MeToo story and revealed that Bahl made her uncomfortable many times. Vikas was given clean chit after the complainant did not appear before the internal investigating committee.
Rajat Kapoor: It turned out that even the ‘suave’ Mr. Kapoor was called out for alleged sexual harassment on Twitter. Two women accused him of inappropriate behaviour. He reportedly asked a journalist about her ‘vital stats’ and if she is ‘as sexy as she sounds’. The ‘Kapoor and Sons’ actors later issued an apology. He said he had tried to be a decent man all his life. “If however, I have slipped and through my actions or words caused pain or hurt or trauma to absolutely anybody. I am sorry from the bottom of my heart – and sad that I was the cause of this hurt to another human being. If there is one thing more important to me than even my work, it is to be a good human being. And I have tried to be that person. And now, I will try harder,” he wrote on Twitter.
Vivek Agnihotri: The director was accused by Tanushree Dutta of allegedly asking her to strip and dance during the shooting of a song. Vivek denied that he has ever asked actress Tanushree for any improper action.
Madhur Bhandarkar: Who would have thought that the director of women-centric films such as ‘Fashion’ would have fingers pointing at him. A model accused him of rape with the promise of casting her in his films in 2004. She later decided to not pursue the case and was even arrested for hiring a contract killer to murder Bhandarkar, reports said.
Om Puri: News of the late award-winning making sexual advances at his maid his wife, Nandita Puri’s complaint of domestic violence left everyone astounded.
Papon: Judge of reality show ‘The Voice India Kids’, the playback singer was accused of putting Holi colours on a female contestant and kissing her. The Guwahati police lodged a case against him after a complaint from the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights following which Papon quit the show.
Kailash Kher: He was accused of keeping his hand on the thigh of a female journalist but he said he was neither aware nor remembers the incident. “For all those who know me and have come across me, will know how much I respect humanity, especially women, even more for the ones who work in media since their work is difficult,” Kailash said.
There are more in the ‘roll of honour’ such as Karim Morani, Chetan Bhagat, Mahmood Farooqui, Aditya Pancholi and Varun Grover and perhaps even more unreported ones.
