Mumbai: Actor Huma Qureshi said Tuesday she is angry about her name being ‘dragged’ by Payal Ghosh into a controversial issue. Payal Ghosh has tagged Huma Qureshi’s name in her allegation of sexual harassment. The allegation is against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap.
Ghosh took Saturday to Twitter, claiming that Kashyap was sexually inappropriate towards her. It was an allegation the Gangs of Wasseypur director called ‘baseless’.
In a video released to ABN Telugu, Ghosh claimed that the incident happened in 2014-2015. Ghosh had made her Hindi film debut with Rishi Kapoor-Paresh Rawal starrer Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi. She also claimed that Kashyap boasted about his connection with megastar Amitabh Bachchan. He also flaunted that there were other female artistes who he got intimate with, including Qureshi and Richa Chadha.
Qureshi made her debut with Gangs of Wasseypur. She posted a statement on Twitter Tuesday. She said she had so far avoided commenting on the issue as she didn’t want to get into social media fights and media trials.
“I feel really angry at being dragged into this mess. I feel angry not just for myself but also for every woman. Their hard work and struggle gets reduced to such baseless conjecture and allegations in their workplace. Please let’s refrain from this narrative,” the actor said in the statement.
Qureshi called Kashyap a ‘dear friend’ and an ‘extremely talented’ director. She stated the duo last worked together in 2012-2013.
See link: https://twitter.com/humasqureshi/status/1308332755042828288/photo/1
“In my personal experience and to my knowledge he has neither misbehaved with me or anyone else. However, anyone who claims to be abused must report it to the authorities, the police and the judiciary… It is the joint responsibility of women and men both to carefully protect the sanctity of #MeToo. This is my final response. Please do not approach me to make any more statements on this matter,” Qureshi said.
Also read: Payal Ghosh to file police complaint Tuesday against Anurag Kashyap
Qureshi’s response came a day after Chadha sent a legal notice to Ghosh through her lawyer Saveena Bedi Sachar. The notice has been served for being ‘unnecessarily and falsely dragged in a defamatory manner’.
“Though our client believes that genuinely wronged women should get justice at all costs, there are legislations that are intended to ensure that. Women have an equal standing in their workplace and to ensure that they have a cordial workplace in which their dignity and self-respect is protected, there are laws,” Sachar stated.
“No woman can be allowed to misuse their liberties to harass other women with unsubstantiated or non-existent, false and baseless allegations,” Chadha’s lawyer added.
Kashyap, too, shared a statement from his lawyer, Priyanka Khimani. It said the 48-year-old director has been ‘fully advised of his rights and remedies in law and intends to pursue them to the fullest extent’.
