Trigger Warning: The following article contains details about sexual assault and violence. The details may be traumatic for survivors. Reader discretion is advised.
Veteran television writer, director and producer Vinta Nanda has shared an account of alleged systematic misbehaviour leading to sexual assualt by the lead male actor on her TV show Tara both on the set and elsewhere. In a long Facebook post, Vinta has detailed the male actor being inebriated and abusive to the female lead on the sets, after which the producers fired him.
More shockingly, Vinta recounts two separate instances of herself being sexually assaulted by the actor. Additionally, she claims the popular actor used his influence to derail her career professionally and it took her 20 years to recover from the trauma of her assault.
While Vinta hasn’t named the actor directly in the post, she identifies him as a ‘sanskaari’ actor who was the lead in Tara. This seems to be a clear reference to Alok Nath and the other victim of his alleged harassment would be Navneet Nishan who played the lead character in Tara.
Alok Nath has now reacted to the accusation in an interview to ABP News. He said, "Kuch to log kahenge”.
“Neither I am denying this nor do I would agree with it. It (rape) must have happened, but someone else would have done it. Well, I do not want to talk much about it as for the matter if it has come out, it will be stretched.”Alok Nath, Actor
Alok Nath also said that Vinta's allegations are absurd.
“What do I have to do with people? People will say anything to spoil the image. Leave my image, whatever has been said, it is absurd.”Alok Nath
Alok also insisted that Vinta used to be a close friend of his.
“At one time she used to be such a good friend... today she said such a big thing. In a way, it was me who made her what she is... It is useless to react on the allegations as in today’s world whatever a woman says, only that will be considered. In such a situation, it would be wrong to say anything.”Alok Nath
Read Nanda’s post below.
Here are excerpts from Vinta Nanda’s Facebook post which talk about the assault and trauma she went through:
“The only reason I’m telling this story now is because I don’t want that any girl should ever fear holding the truth back.”Vinta Nanda on Facebook
“I started to walk home on the empty streets although the distance to my own house was long. Midway I was accosted by this man who was driving his own car and he asked me to sit in it and said he would drop me home. I trusted him and sat in his car. I have faint memory after that. I can remember more liquor being poured into my mouth and I remember being violated endlessly. When I woke up the next afternoon, I was in pain. I hadn’t just been raped, I was taken to my own house and had been brutalised.”Vinta Nanda on Facebook
“I continued to write the show. Here’s the most difficult part, the main reason why I have taken so long to come out with the truth. While I was working on this new series, he asked me to come to his house again and I went to allow him to violate me. I needed the job and didn’t want to leave it as I needed the money. It was after this that I quit.”Vinta Nanda on Facebook
Sucharita Tyagi and Mallika Dua were among the first to comment on social media, and they called out Alok Nath based on Vinta Nanda’s Facebook post.
The General Secretary of the Cine and TV Artists’ Association (CINTAA), Sushant Singh, via a tweet has said that a notice would be sent to Alok Nath for his expulsion from the association on account of Vinta Nanda’s allegations against him.
Swara Bhaskar shared Vinta Nanda's account of the incident alleging Tara lead actor Alok Nath. "Heart wrenching," she wrote on Twitter.
(Inputs: ABP News)
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