It seems that the MeToo campaign has surprisingly backfired in the case of Chetan Bhagat. Accused of sending lewd messages and sexually harassing a fellow author, Chetan came out clean with a detailed message conversation between him and the alleged victim, which indicated that the conversation between them involved flirtatious comments from both sides, not just one.
As the Me Too movement was cropping up, author and Yoga teacher Ira Trivedi joined the bandwagon, alleging that Chetan Bhagat tried to be mean with her, just the way she was harassed by popular socialite Suhel Seth, as reported by her on Twitter and in an interview with Republic TV, as noted below:-
My #metoo story. I thank all the women who came before me, so that I could be brave enough to tell mine. https://t.co/bO2c4qOKyV
— Ira Trivedi (@iratrivedi) October 13, 2018
Immediately, the entire media swooped down upon the author and accused him of being a pervert, making women feel unsafe. However, it wasn’t until Outlook India published a propaganda article that shamed him, then Chetan had had it enough. He replied back in a terse statement on Twitter:-
Shame on media like @outlookindia who carried a fake charges story without even checking with me. They could have easily checked on YouTube that I launched her book in 2015/16. Who calls their harasser as chief guest for their book launch? Video here: https://t.co/g6uIOVLjeS
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
Then, all of a sudden, he dropped the bombshell, revealing that the so called charges of sexual harassment were completely false, and the conversations between him and Ira were consensual and innocuous. In fact, it was Ira who was equally being flirtatious as was Chetan during one of the email exchanges that dated back to 2013:-
So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’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 #fakecharges #harassed pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
He then clarified in another tweet that he is not a vindictive person. He just wants to come out clean in an incident, where he was not at fault:-
I am not a vindictive person. More than anything I just want me and my family to be left alone and people to ignore fake charges. Love to all who supported me. I won’t let you down. This was my #MeToo story. Peace out.
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
However, inadvertently, Chetan Bhagat exposed another fake case by his clarification. Stung by his revelations, Ira tried to reply with a long thread, as noted below:-
As much as I think Bhagat’s tactics don’t even deserve a response, I think it is only right to put the truth out there. That’s after all what got me here.
— Ira Trivedi (@iratrivedi) October 15, 2018
Unfortunately for Ira, the thread only exposed her hypocritical stance, as she resorted to the classic victim card theory the keyboard feminists of India are only notorious for. In trying to support her, another ‘victim’ also exposed her own hypocrisy, with the following reply:-
Chetan, dude, bro, this is really embarrassing for you: Someone said you're writer or something…?
But you do take things veeeerry literally.
Lol @ this email you posted.#TimesUphttps://t.co/DtesFZMC5D
— Anoo Bhuyan (@AnooBhu) October 15, 2018
For those unaware, Anoo Bhuyan is a journalist at The Wire, who had previously accused journalist Mayank Jain and Anurag Verma of indulging in sexual harassment with their colleagues. If what Chetan said in his clarifications is true, either Anoo was lying then or she is lying now, which is exactly what some of the critics of the Indian #MeToo movement have feared, i.e. the movement being hijacked for personal revenge.
There are some other women who are using this movement for their own selfish advantage, even if it means trivializing the suffering of the real victims and destroying the reputation of an innocent man to tatters. If a man is accused of sexual harassment, that doesn’t mean he is definitely guilty of that crime? Has the notion of innocent until proven guilty gone for a toss?
Now that Chetan Bhagat has come out clean on this issue, the onus is now on Ira Trivedi to prove if she was really harassed and assaulted, or if she wanted to milk the opportunity by joining the #MeToo bandwagon. It is now time that media trials like these could be checked and curbed, if going beyond the reasonable level.
