JOIN USSinger Raghu Dixit named as #MeToo outs more
Newer names got sucked into the #MeToo vortex on Wednesday with more women recounting their accounts of sexual harassment and assault.
Bengaluru-based singer Raghu Dixit, singer-composer Kailash Kher and woman comic star Aditi Mittal were among the names that surfaced as the movement escalated. There were also fresh charges against Union Minister M J Akbar and actor Alok Nath.
Raghu Dixit, the frontman for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band, was accused of sexual harassment by two anonymous women, whose accounts were shared by singer Chinmayi Sripaada on Twitter.
One woman, who called the musician “among the top predators”, said Dixit once molested her at a recording. “Many years ago, I was called to his studio for a recording and he started talking ill about his wife... When we got done with an ad hoc recording, he pulled me closer and asked me to give him a kiss when he was signing my cheque... Later at the door, he tried to carry me and I ran down crying... he’s a creep,” she said.
Dixit posted a long apology on Twitter where he admitted he was wrong as he “misread the situation”. He said he had apologised to the woman immediately after the incident and will do so again in private.
Another singer, Sona Mohapatra, alleged that singer-composer Kailash Kher, who was earlier accused of misconduct by a journalist, misbehaved with her during a meeting. Sona said he placed “a hand on my thigh with lines like, you are so beautiful...”
Meanwhile, as three more women journalists came up with accounts of harassment and assault at the hands of Union Minister M J Akbar, the Congress asked the journalist-politician to either resign as the minister of state for external affairs or offer a satisfactory explanation to the allegations. The government maintained silence with Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad refusing to comment.
One of the journalists, Ghazala Wahab, detailed the harassment she faced during her first job in Asian Age when Akbar was editor.