Yesterday, after some women called out comic associated with All India Bakchod Utsav Chakraborty’s unwanted sexual advances and harassment, more women have come forward narrating their experience and also calling out other popular comics on social media for having crossed the boundaries.
More accusations of predators and enablers, those who knew of their friends being predators and stayed silent, surfaced. Standup comics, journalists, social media celebrities, past twenty-four hours have been triggering for most. A woman accused social media celebrity Anurag of having sent her inappropriate ‘snaps’ on SnapChat, a photo-sharing social media network. We have blanked out the names of the women who have come forward with their stories in the below screenshots.
Another Twitter users also came forward and confirmed that he did something similar to her as well.
Many, many women came out narrating their experience about Anurag, who late last night apologised for his behaviour.
I had posted a video where I pulled a packet of biscuits from my shorts and sent it to a ton of people on my snapchat. Which I now realise is not funny and very much crass. I didn’t send any unsolicited picture of genitals. I want to apologise for making people uncomfortable.
— Anurag Verma (@kitAnurag) October 4, 2018
However, Utsav Chakraborty tried to justify how getting nudes from a person was ‘instant rush’, and blamed his illness for his behaviour.
To me, getting nudes from a person was an instant rush. I was not in pain for that brief moment. Someone trusted me with that information. I would feel honoured and not ugly. But this caught me into a weird spiral. Where I would ask anyone who was nice to me in the slightest.
— Utsav (@Wootsaw) October 4, 2018
Another Twitter user accused Sapan Verma, a standup comic, of inappropriate behaviour, which Verma denied. Even as people were coming to terms with this, more skeletons tumbled out the closet as a few journalists accused Mayank Jain, a journalist associated with Business Standard and formerly with Scroll.in, of unwanted advances and of being a sexual predator.
Another woman also shared screenshots of her conversation with Mayank Jain where he sent her suggestive messages which made her uncomfortable. Last year, too, he was accused of being sexually abusive, where he had even accepted his behaviour.
Guys, this needs the same amount of attention. Person concerned here works for Scroll, a reputed News organisation. pic.twitter.com/OFAeM9dALZ
— अंकित जैन (@indiantweeter) September 1, 2017
He had claimed he was taking therapy to reform himself.
Tell Difference between Mayank jain of scroll and Wocharlog <5 marks> pic.twitter.com/URD0haInCx
— अंकित जैन (@indiantweeter) September 1, 2017
At the time of this report, Mayank has neither denied nor apologised for the allegations.
However, the anger in people is not only against the allegations against sexual predators but also against those in power who knew but did nothing to call them out. Multiple people had come out saying that All India Bakchod heads knew of Utsav’s behaviour as multiple women had complained to them, but they still continued his patronage. Similarly, Kunal Kamra, another so-called ‘comic’ allegedly knew of Utsav’s behaviour but kept mum.
It is indeed unfortunate that most of the accused above identify themselves as feminists and regularly ‘call out misogyny and sexism’ in the country. But when it comes to crimes committed by their friends, they maintain uncomfortable silence.
