Trivedi had written about Bhagat's alleged sexual misconduct in The Outlook magazine
Mumbai: Days after author Ira Trivedi accused fellow writer Chetan Bhagat of sexual harassment, the latter has rubbished her allegations with 'proof'.
The writer wrote about an incident from nearly a decade ago at the Jaipur Literature Festival where Chetan Bhagat made a pass at her. She also revealed that he had 'groped' one of her friends. "Harmless as it was, the truth was that it did make me uncomfortable. After all he was and is a married man with a family, and this in my mind, was inappropriate behaviour," she wrote.
Meanwhile, Chetan Bhagat responded to the accusations with a series of tweets and shared a screenshot of Ira's mail from 2013 which he captioned 'So who wanted to kiss whom?' and that 'This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed'.
So who wanted to kiss whom? ’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat)He also described her as an entitled kid owing to her family connections.
Also, it is she who comes from very powerful family connected to pol party (regularly dropped top names of people in power then ). i was less known in 2010. was intimidated by her. My old col on Air India talks of entitled IAS kid demanding upgrades at Air India counter. It's her pic.twitter.com/GGNGjZgbz9
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat)Bhagat also pointed out that fake #MeToo allegations are making the movement lose its sanctity.
A person’s reputation is their most prized asset and takes a lifetime of work to earn. To have these motivated, fake attacks on me is abhorrent and the sickest thing a person can do. Please don’t support this kind of smear campaign.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat)Meanwhile, Ira has not released any official statement but has been retweeting tweets supporting her such as 'What the hell.! So every girl who sent me XOXO wanted me to forcibly kiss her?' and 'Chetan Bhagat is a known predator. So stop supporting him. Everybody in the industry knows about him. He has sent lewd messages to many girls. He has done it some people I know. So I will never support him.'
I am overwhelmed by the support by both women and men. Before I published the piece, I was nervous, anxious and scared. This morning I felt empowered and calm. No matter what comes my way, I know I will be OK. https://t.co/BEsh7931lO
— Ira Trivedi (@iratrivedi)Read Exclusive COVID-19 Coronavirus News updates, at MyNation.