YRF Talent and Business Head Ashish Patil refutes claims of sexual harassment; the production house promises strict action

By Vandana Srivastawa

on October 13, 2018

With the #MeToo movement in India gaining momentum, every day new names of powerful people with clout and designation has been coming to fore. Women are sharing their horrific ordeals of sexual harassment on social media. Many journalists are sharing anonymous posts by victims who are coming out to name their perpetrators.

Yesterday Japleen Pasricha shared screenshots of conversations with a woman who alleged that the Talent and Business Head of Yash Raj Films, Ashish Patil had harassed her. However, Ashish denied all allegations but YRF issued a statement saying that they will investigate the allegations and offered her to come forward and share details with the Presiding Officer of their Internal Complaints Committee on her email id.

https://twitter.com/japna_p/status/1049962748023459840

The woman who is an acting aspirant has alleged that he touched her inappropriately during a meet-up. She wrote on Twiter, “He’d visit my place and yes every time tried his moves until he got his way.” She alleged that he pretended to get interested in a script she wrote but eventually rejected it and told her to make audition videos as YRF is looking for lead girls.

[caption id="attachment_149897" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Ashish Patil[/caption]

Ashish denied all allegations and has issued a statement regarding the woman’s claims.

https://twitter.com/patilashish/status/1050016828418875394

On the other hand, YRF also issued a statement and wrote, “We have taken the survivors account very seriously and would like to investigate her story and go to the root of the matter. We assure that we shall take the strictest action against the alleged perpetrator if the allegation of sexual harassment is found to be true.”

https://twitter.com/yrf/status/1050771350674202624

The #MeToo allegations started with Tanushree Dutta when she came out and accused Nana Patekar of sexual harassment and intimidation. Her courage propelled other women to come out and relate their horrible experiences. Alok Nath, Vikas Bahl, Rajat Kapoor, Sajid Khan, Subhash Ghai, Zain Khan Durrani, and many others have been accused of sexual harassment.