‘Comedian’ Sanjay Rajoura has been accused of sexual harassment by a woman in her early 20s. The woman has taken to Instagram to accuse the comedian of sexual abuse. Rajoura is a member of the comedy collective ‘Aisi Taisi Democracy’.
On September 23, the woman, who used the alias ‘Tara’ in her posts, revealed that Rajoura had reportedly coerced her into having oral sex in a public place despite her reservations. She also accused him of requesting nudes from her and posting an unsolicited nude image of a woman, proposing a threesome.
The woman wrote that for months she kept overlooking the advances since she admired the comedian for his work. His public persona clouded her judgement, she admitted. She was intimidated by the fact that Rajoura knew a lot of influential people from the film fraternity. In the post, the victim opens up on how she also kept overlooking the sexual advances made by Rajoura because she looked at his public persona as a “feminist man”.
She alleged that Rajoura would ask her to send him “unsafe” and naked pictures. “Even when I told him that it was too soon or made excuses expressing hesitancy, he was persistent and found loopholes to my excuses.”
The victim goes on to reveal how the comedian coerced her into performing oral sex at a public place. “He put his hand on my shoulder and guided me on my knees to perform the act,” wrote Tara.
Tara further said that the next day, Rajoura met someone he was professionally associated with at the gate of his building while taking out his car from the parking. She said that Rajouri “made a very weird hand gesture at the man while having a naughty smug smile on his face. That translated to me as him telling the man at the gate ‘You’re man has been having fun with this young lady’, very similar to ‘Aaj mein karke aaya hu'”.
She added that even after their meeting she continued to entertain his calls and interact with him. “It took me more than a few months to come to the painful realization that what had happened between us was toxic, overpowering, and problematic. Adding that she felt intimidated by him, his influence and power, the woman said she couldn’t walk out.
“So why am I speaking up now? I am doing this for MYSELF, to unburden this weight I have been carrying for so long. It is not on me to convince the world of my experience, hence I am not attaching any proof. I am doing this for closure,” she wrote
She ended that post by saying: “The instances I have mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg of my traumatic experience. I have lost all my friends since, after having several breakdowns and anxiety attacks. The things I went through almost drove my mother to the point of insanity. At this moment I do not have the emotional bandwidth to initiate a formal complaint. I want to move on to a better life, this ends here.”
Rajoura has not responded to the allegations yet.
Derogatory comments against Hindu Gods, casteist slurs: Sanjay Rajoura’s idea of ‘comedy’
Prior to this, the ‘comedian’ Sanjay Rajoura was in trouble after a complaint was filed against him on May 4, 2020 for mocking Hindu gods and goddesses and hurting religious sentiments.
Rajoura had made derogatory remarks against Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva after which a complaint was filed against him with the Mumbai Police by Hindu activist Ramesh Solanki.
Rajoura also has a history of abusive behaviour on social media. He has resorted to name-calling and threatening other Twitter users only because they don’t agree with his views. He has also displayed his casteist behaviour on Twitter by abusing the Brahmin and Rajput communities.
Here, we should recollect how in 2018, when the MeToo movement had gripped India, various film and media personalities, including stand up comics, were exposed by women. From ‘comedian’ Varun Grover to abusive Kunal Kamra to the co-founders and collaborators of comedy platform All India Bakchod were all were accused of sexual misconduct.