#MeToo: A look back at India’s social movement of the year and its likely future

When the #MeToo movement first gained prominence in 2017, garnering column inches and prime time minutes after influential Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment by several women, its Indian impact was fairly muted. Law student Raya Sarkar and blogger Inji Pennu compiled a crowd-sourced list of alleged sexual predators in Indian educational institutions, and while the list was widely talked about on social media and caused a stir in some universities, it did not attract the same attention in the mainstream press.

But those who thought the #MeToo storm had passed over India without consequences were to be proved wrong almost a year later, when a second wave of allegations of sexual harassment and assault hit the Indian Twitterverse in October this year.

Former Bollywood actor Tanushree Dutta accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment on the sets of a movie in 2008 in late-September. By the first week of October, several women had come forward with allegations ranging from inappropriate behavior at the workplace to violent sexual assault and rape. Apart from Patekar, directors Sajid Khan and Vikas Bahl, singers Kailash Kher and Anu Malik and actors Alok Nath and Rajat Kapoor were prominent faces accused of sexual harassment from the Indian film fraternity – but the impact of the movement wasn’t restricted to just Bollywood. Comedian Utsav Chakraborty, brand consultant Suhel Seth and author Chetan Bhagat were accused of sexual misconduct as well.

The movement moved to journalism, with many senior journalists like Vinod Dua, Prashant Jha and KR Sreenivas among those named. But perhaps the biggest name to face allegations was Union Minister MJ Akbar. Over the course of a few weeks, 20 women journalists had come forward with allegations against the minister, who was out of the country on government business. As pressure mounted on him to resign, the government tried to hold fort by staying silent – but ultimately, his position became indefensible, and he had to step down. Akbar filed a case of criminal defamation against Priya Ramani, the first journalist to come out with her story, and the case is currently being heard in a Delhi court.