Over the past few days, the #MeToo movement in India has gained momentum with more and more women coming forward to narrate sordid stories of abuse and intimidation that they faced, senior journalist Vinod Dua has also come under the scanner over allegations of sexual harassment.
Nishtha Jain, a freelance filmmaker, has accused Dua of sexually harassing her in the year 1989 when she went to meet him for an interview. In her Facebook post, Jain accused that Dua would pass “lewd sexual joke in a soft voice, which the woman found derogatory and not funny”. She also alleges how Dua once came outside her office and sexually harassed her in a car.
“Assuming that he wanted to apologise for his behaviour, I entered the car but before I could even settle down he began slobbering all over my face. I managed to get out and get into my office car and leave. I spotted him again in the parking in the coming nights and would go right back and wait till someone was ready to leave along with me in the office car. After a few days he stopped stalking me,” she wrote in the post.
While calling out his hypocritical stand on women’s rights and feminism, Jain said, “he was no less sexist, no less misogynist, no less creepy a sexual harasser, potential rapist.”
A Padma Shri awardee, Dua is one of the most senior broadcast journalists in India and has worked with several media organisations including Doordarshan, NDTV India and Sahara. He currently hosts Jan Gan Man Ki Baat, a news bulletin programme for The Wire.
InUth tried to contact Dua over the allegations but is yet to get his response. The Wire, too, hasn’t responded to the allegations. This copy will be updated as we receive their response.
