On November 3, Twitter user Cringearchivist 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.
CRINGETOPIA EXCLUSIVE 💣
— Archive of Cringetopia (@cringearchivist) November 3, 2022
The Wire #Metoo Papers are here!https://t.co/K0LiqjKPhE pic.twitter.com/wp7AlO4gL0
Note: 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.
Cringearchivist and Babool are friends in real life
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.
Note: 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.
The allegations raised by Kiran against Vinod Dua
In the year 2017, Vinod Dua called out actor Akshay Kumar for making “sexist” remarks against his daughter Mallika Dua. When Kiran came to know about it, she remembered how Dua was equally sexist, misogynist and sexual harasser. Initially, she decided not to speak about it as the incident with her took place decades ago. However, when she came to know that Dua used The Wire’s platform to speak against sexual harassment, Kiran decided to speak up. Still, she only wrote, “Vinod Dua, don’t make me open my mouth” on the social media platform Facebook.
On October 14, 2018, she noticed Dua extended support to author Varun Grover after he was accused in the Me Too cases. That was when Kiran decided to detail what happened in 1989. The documentary filmmaker said that in June 1989, she was called for an interview by Vinod Dua on her birthday. At that time, she had just started working in the field.
Dua allegedly made a lewd joke before she could even settle down. Later, when they discussed the monetary benefits linked to the gig, Kiran told him that she expected Rs 5,000 as the fees that, according to her, most graduates were getting at that time. Dua sarcastically asked if the amount she quoted was in her “aukaat”.
Kiran left the office and reached home in tears. She later got a job at Newsclick. Dua allegedly got information about her job and tried to contact her. She noticed him in the parking one day. Dua was sitting in his vehicle. He rolled down the window and called her. Kiran said she thought Dua wanted to apologise and went to his car. He asked her to sit inside, which she did.
Before she could understand, Dua allegedly kissed her. Kiran said she somehow managed to get away. Since that movement, Dua continued to follow her, called her office and asked her to come down, but she refused. Kiran added she spotted his car in the parking on multiple occasions.
Communication between The Wire and Kiran
On October 14, 2018, Kiran and officials at The Wire started communicating over the issue. The first communication was with Siddharth Varadarajan over Facebook. They exchanged numbers to discuss Kiran’s complaint.
On October 15, Jahnavi Sen emailed Kiran that the Internal Complaints Committee had a meeting on the matter and requested she file a formal complaint. The Wire’s Monobina Gupta, Meenakshi Tewari, Jahnavi Sen, Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashastha and external member Tanika Sarkar were present at the meeting. Kiran informed them she would file a formal complaint soon.
On October 17, Siddharth sent an email to Kiran informing her about the formation of an external committee comprising Justice Aftab Alam (retired justice of the Supreme Court), Justice Anjana Prakash (retired justice of the Patna high court), Prof Neera Chandhoke, retired professor, University of Delhi, and former Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh to look into the matter. He urged Kiran to file a complaint by the end of October 18.
On the same day, Kiran replied and expressed her inability to send the formal complaint by the date mentioned, as Siddharth did not provide ample time, and she was travelling. She added a complaint would be filed by October 26. Another member Prof Patricia Uberoi was added to the committee as Kiran had requested a women-majority committee of five members to look into the matter.
On October 19, Siddharth sent another email to Kiran requesting her to send the complaint to The Wire’s Syeda Asia, who would forward the complaint to the committee. Justice Alam was appointed as the head of the committee, and it was ensured that The Wire would have no knowledge about the proceedings.
On October 26, Kiran sent a detailed complaint to The Wire.
On October 27, Syeda sent minutes of the committee proceedings to Kiran. On November 3, another set of documents was sent to Kiran, including a reply from The Wire. On the same day, the reply sent by Dua was forwarded to Kiran with documents supporting his reply.
In Dua’s rebuttal to the allegations, Kiran noted that he sent the reply on the condition that no further cross-questioning would happen. Dua had written, “I agreed to send this reply on the specific assurance by The Wire that I will neither be cross-examined by anyone nor cross-examine anyone.” Irked by the condition imposed by Dua, she wrote, “Please clarify the position urgently as I would like to make it amply clear that I will not participate in the proceedings any further if Mr Dua’s contention is correct.”
The communication between The Wire’s Syeda and Kiran continued for a couple of months, during which Kiran requested to be represented by a friend. Though the committee wanted her to be present for at least the first hearing, the dates were never agreed upon for one or the other reason. The committee was dissolved later without informing Kiran.
Dua’s response
In a lengthy point-wise response, Dua rebutted the allegations and suggested that the details provided by Kiran were not in sync with the addresses, locations, vehicle descriptions etc. Dua categorically denied holding any interview with Kiran and said the location she mentioned where she went for the interview did not exist.
He further pointed out that SUVs were not a “thing” during that period, and he only owned a second-hand ambassador car. Furthermore, he claimed that the office of Newstrack was at a location where it would have been impossible for him to “forcefully kiss her”.
In his response, he questioned the silence maintained by Kiran over the years and said she had been contesting cases for decades, so “his position of power” would not have been an issue for her. He also pointed out that those who supported her in the Facebook post she made against Dua had been socialising with him for years without any problem.
Kiran’s reply to Dua’s rebuttal
In her reply to Dua’s rebuttal, Kiran pointed out that Dua said that he never interviews anyone. However, in an interview with The Scroll, journalist and author Sunita Thakur pointed out how he allegedly tried to come close to her physically. She added Sunita’s testimony in her reply.
Kiran categorically said that Dua was trying to misrepresent and misinterpret her statement/complaint. She also pointed out that the office location that was Connaught Place in Delhi was not “bustling with activity” at 10-11 PM in 1989.
Important aspects of the committee’s meeting
The committee met three times during the course of the inquiry. In the first meeting, the allegations raised by Kiran were discussed. In the second meeting, the response from Dua was received and discussed. In the third and final meeting, it was decided to dissolve the committee as no date was able to be fixed between the concerned parties. The committee noted, “Apart from the three meetings that it has held, the members of the committee have shared their views with each other over more than a hundred emails. The committee has also interacted with the parties who are the subjects of the enquiry before it. On the basis of the materials that have come to it and the positions taken by the parties, the committee comes with regret to the conclusion that no useful purpose would be served by prolonging the process and that it is unable to proceed further in this matter.”
It added, “Before it dissolves itself, the committee makes it absolutely clear that it is not commenting upon any allegations made by the complainant nor on the counter allegations made by the respondent against the complainant, and the pleas taken by him in his defence. With the aforesaid, the committee hereby dissolves itself. Now that the committee no longer exists, it would not be in a position to receive any communications nor to reply thereto from anyone.”
Kiran “exposed” Cringearchivist’s sourced
Fumed at Cringearchivist for releasing the documents without “permission”, Kiran took on Twitter and exposed who Babool was. In a Tweet, Kiran said, “Your post is not pro-MeToo. You just revealed your ulterior motives. How dare you share these papers publicly without taking permission and without redacting names? This is clearly illegal, and you are not doing any woman any favour here.”
Currently, Cringearchivist is facing a series of attacks for releasing documents that would require a separate report. OpIndia is working on a follow-up report with a few questions for Cringearchivist.
