The revelation about Harvey Weinstein and the subsequent #MeToo campaign brought thousands of survivors of sexual harassment together. But when a name, in similar context, emerged in India, everyone decided to look the other way. Could a #MeToo campaign not have emerged from India? Or is it too difficult to accept and acknowledge that sexual harassment is a massive problem and not talking about it won’t make it go away.
A leading Indian website, Factor Daily published a report earlier this year about several allegations of sexual harassment against Mahesh Murthy, founder of the advertising agency, Pinstorm and co-founder and Managing Director, Seedfund (an Investment company). Did the social media collective outrage? That would be a hard no.
The co-founder and writer of FD, Pankaj Mishra who recently spoke up (again) after the #MeToo campaign about the allegations against Murthy, was threatened with ‘dire consequences, contempt proceedings’. This, because his first tweet read: “India’s #Weinstein moment happened last year. Just that we choose to bury our head in sand. Heard of a man named Mahesh Murthy? #metoo”
InUth spoke to Mishra about what he has to say about the lack of outrage over their revelation of Murthy’s sexual harassment allegations and if Indians are selective about their outrage. He responded by saying:
I’ve no complaints at all. We did these stories last year and kept tracking, writing about sexism and sexual harassment prevalent in India’s tech and startup ecosystem. It’s public interest journalism to ensure we chronicle the stories that matter. There’s nothing about (sic) “selective outrage”, our job as journalists is to ensure we keep at it all the time, outrage or no outrage. Most of the mainstream media coverage is about startups’ glory. It’s time to discuss the underbelly of the ecosystem too.”
In a series of 15 tweets on October 25, Pankaj Mishra listed the allegations against Murthy:
India’s #Weinstein moment happened last year. Just that we choose to bury our head in sand. Heard of a man named Mahesh Murthy? #metoo 1/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
Six women –three on record –spoke about what @maheshmurthy did to them 2003 to 2016. This was my story last May: https://t.co/sQASRl9LmK 2/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
The creepiest story was how in 2003 Murthy preyed on @swatisays – just 19 years old then. A Reuters reporter now, she wanted closure. 3/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
Swati recounts physical, verbal abuse – and trauma. “You didn’t tell me what size you were,” Murthy pinged her after the incident. 4/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
Murthy’s transgressions were as recent as 2016 when he propositioned a government officer. “Can I go down on you,” he asked. 5/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
Many in the tech and VC world knew of Murthy’s brazen, unlawful deeds. But, no one sounded the alarm. 6/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
An IT services giant, whose marketing executive he propositioned, “Are you a virgin?” asking her out to Goa, acted: it blacklisted him. 7/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
It chose not to work with Murthy’s firm,Pinstorm: perhaps the only time Corporate India stood against him.Story: https://t.co/PPETnGXtND 8/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
I even named 29 corporate leaders while asking “Why don’t our CEOs stand up against our ‘bro culture’?” https://t.co/hx92Hipznt 9/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
Two replied. Just two. It showed how little the CEOs cared about women, who count for about 25% of the Indian tech workforce. 10/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
The Murthy-abused women who told us their stories are brave, brave women. Some 20 others spoke but didn’t want their stories narrated. 11/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
Murthy has impleaded @factorDaily, me, 4 others in a defamation case originally against 12 others including @YourStoryCo. 12/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
An @EconomicTimes writer tried to dig on the story but Murthy has sought to implead him in the case, too. 13/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
When there is something of import to report in the case, I will do so. Suffice to say, @factordaily and I are fighting it. 14/n
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
India’s #Weinstein or not, there seems little doubt that Murthy has wronged women. If so, he needs to be tried for it. #metoo 15/15
— pankaj mishra (@pankajontech) October 25, 2017
In an update, Pankaj Mishra shared a tweet about how Murthy moved Delhi HC with a contempt petition against him and wanted him to remove his entire Twitter thread. And, Pankaj Mishra wrote this: “We stand by all our stories and I stand by my tweet-stream. It’s in public spirit to ensure awareness of sexual predators and sexism.”
When asked what change or action Mishra hoped to see now that his tweets have gone viral, he said, “Virality or lack of it doesn’t change anything at all. I’m only doing my job. Of course it’s encouraging to see social media users share the stories, ask questions.”
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