The Indian actress whose public allegations of sexual harassment by a Bollywood star is sparking a string of similar MeToo claims has filed a formal complaint, police told AFP Sunday. Former Miss Universe contestant Tanushree Dutta first alleged in 2008 that multi-award-winning Nana Patekar behaved inappropriately towards her during the making of a romantic comedy the same year.
No action was taken at the time against Patekar and she made no formal complaint. But emboldened by the global MeToo campaign - where women have shared accounts of harassment or assault - Dutta repeated the allegations in a recent interview and on Saturday went to the police to officially report the 2008 sexual harrassment claims.
"Dutta visited the police station last night and submitted a written complaint," Shailesh Pasalwar, a Mumbai police inspector, told AFP. "We are investigating the case but right now, it is not an FIR (First Information Report, or a formal investigation) but a written complaint about harassment incident," he added. She also alleged in the interview that filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri had behaved inappropriately towards her during the shooting of the 2005 movie "Chocolate: Deep Dark Secrets".
The actress said in a statement last week that she had received legal notices from both Patekar and Agnihotri, who deny her accusations. Dutta said she had also received "violent threats" from the fringe, far-right nationalist group Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and has been hounded by a "smear campaign" on social media since reiterating her claims against the pair. "This is the age-old saga of survivors in our nation," she said.
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