On Friday (November 4), a Twitter user ‘Archive of Cringetopia (@cringeactivist)’ accused journalist Sucheta Dalal of ratting out the ‘source’, who was investigating the #MeToo accusations against The Wire in 2019.
He had shared screenshots wherein Dalal was allegedly threatening the source with legal action and discrediting him as a journalist for allegedly seeking information about MeToo allegations.
“When Sucheta Dalal tried to block our source’s investigation into #Metoo media. But terribly failed! Hi Sucheta Dalal, did you read The Wire #MeToo papers?” the Twitter handle remarked.
🧵
— Archive of Cringetopia (@cringearchivist) November 4, 2022
When @suchetadalal tried to block our source’s investigation into #Metoo Media. But terribly failed!
Hi @suchetadalal, did you read The Wire #MeToo papers?
1/4 pic.twitter.com/lKrMrd41cl
‘Archive of Cringetopia’ claimed how Sucheta Dalal and other journalists falsely accused the source of blackmail and tried to intimidate him into silence.
“Ah, she CC-ed it to Shekhar Gupta, Sheela Bhatt and Editor’s Guild, which promotes The Wire’s fraudulent reportage!”, it tweeted. The Twitter handle applauded how its source had vowed to take media outfits to the cleaners, which have shielded sexual offenders.
Damn! Our source is a real bada**!
— Archive of Cringetopia (@cringearchivist) November 4, 2022
3/4 pic.twitter.com/o6GcnZg14D
‘Archive of Cringetopia’ emphasised how Sucheta Dalal tried to ‘blacklist’ its source but praised his firm resolve, in the face of intimidation.
“He never regretted pursuing #Metoo. He knew it could cost him dearly. And it did. Sometimes you need to make the ultimate sacrifice, he tells Archive of Cringetopia,” it added.
Awwwwwwwww. Blacklistin’ much, @suchetadalal?
— Archive of Cringetopia (@cringearchivist) November 4, 2022
Hi @nishthajaan, our source was talking about this! He never regretted pursuing #Metoo . He knew it could cost him dearly. And it did. Sometimes you need to make the ultimate sacrifice, he tells @cringearchivist.
Love you, UK.
4/4 pic.twitter.com/qICUBN8Wii
What Sucheta Dalal said
While covering the allegations by @cringeactivist, OpIndia had written that Sucheta Dalal had been accused of derailing the investigation into the allegations against The Wire’s Vinod Dua. That, however, was an error in reporting. @cringeactivist had alleged that Sucheta Dalal had derailed the investigation into his source, trying to find out if there were any #MeToo allegations that had surfaced in MoneyLife.
Responding to this, Sucheta Dalal took to Twitter to offer clarification as to what had happened. She said that she had never met Vinod Dua in her life and that the emails pertained to the source trying to find out if there were any such allegations in MoneyLife. Dalal also said that there were no #MeToo allegations at MoneyLife in the past 16 years.
This is a reason why we need verification of EVERY TWITTER ID. This was an email that I marked to all editors because the guy SENT threatening mails demanding info on whether we had ME TOO ISSUES IN OUR OFFICE. For heaven's sake Vinod Dua never worked with us.
— Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) November 6, 2022
She shared the email exchange from 2019 saying that this “source” who had got in touch with her had no proof and was simply fishing for information. She further claimed that this individual was simultaneously asking for a job at MoneyLife, something that he would not do if he was convinced of wrongdoing.
So now cut to September 2019. Since I avoided responding to the insolent email he sends this threat — To whom it may concern — please note he is JUST FISHING. No facts. Just a demand. Is this journalism? Plenty of jurnos on my TL pic.twitter.com/B2LWd6A1iK
— Sucheta Dalal (@suchetadalal) November 6, 2022
#MeToo allegations against The Wire’s Vinod Dua
On November 3, ‘Archive of Cringetopia (@cringeactivist)’ shared a set of documents revealing what happened behind the scenes at The Wire concerning the sexual harassment allegations against its former anchor Vinod Dua.
The documents revealed how an internal committee was formed and dissolved later without reaching any conclusion. So much so that the victim who had raised a complaint against Dua was not informed that the committee was prematurely dissolved without concluding anything.
In the note about the documents, Cringearchivist revealed that they (one of the members of the groups) and Babool are friends in real life.
Notably, Cringearchivist was not aware Babool had access to the documents, and Babool was not aware his friend was one of the persons running Cringearchivist on Instagram and Twitter.
As per the note, Babool got his hands on the documents during an in-depth investigation into Me Too allegations. Because of his investigation, he was allegedly boycotted by the Indian newsrooms.
Later, he left journalism. Cringearchivist said in the note that The Wire neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the documents.
Disclaimer: Though the leaked papers contain the victim’s name and the victim has revealed the source’s identity on Twitter, OpIndia has decided not to use the victim’s or source’s name.
We have used Kiran and Babool as pseudo-names for the victim and source, respectively. Cringearchivist gave the name Babool to the source in the documents.
OpIndia got access to the documents via a public link of a Proton drive shared by Cringearchivist on Twitter. We neither confirm nor deny the authenticity of these documents. At the moment, we cannot independently confirm if the information provided in the documents is real.
Editors note: An earlier version of this article had claimed that @cringeactivist had alleged that Sucheta Dalal had tried to derail the investigation into the MeToo allegations against The Wire’s Vinod Dua. That was an error and the article has been updated to reflect the factual position, including what Sucheta Dalal has said. We regret the error that was made inadvertently.
