Chetan Bhagat shares Ira Trivedi's email after her sexual-harassment charges
What's the story
Author Chetan Bhagat is upset (and visibly angry) over the slew of sexual harassment allegations leveled against him, especially by writer Ira Trivedi.
In an article for Outlook, Ira wrote Chetan tried to kiss her forcibly nearly a decade ago, a charge he denied.
On Monday, in a series of tweets, he slammed her for derailing #MeToo movement, which has finally ascended to India.
Context
Diving into #MeToo movement, Ira shares her story
Ira wrote she met Chetan during a literature fest in Jaipur, and then later at India International Center in Delhi.
At IIC, he asked her to come to his room under the pretext of giving her a signed copy of the book. On entering the room, he tried to kiss her.
Further, Ira also wrote he groped her friend abroad and made inappropriate passes.
Quote
Ira tells why she spoke up after years
"When the stream of #MeToo allegations started to flow, I had a strong feeling that Chetan Bhagat would be called out. And when he indeed was, I knew that it was important for me to share my decade-long experience of his behavior with me," she wrote.
Defense
Facing flak, Chetan calls the allegations baseless
When Ira's allegations got attention, Chetan was slammed for his 'predatory' nature. But the 'Half Girlfriend' author feels he is being targeted unfairly.
He urged people to not support 'smear campaign' of this kind, which is driven by motivation.
He wrote the allegations were baseless and have hurt his family. He spoke about taking out time to work towards his family's healing.
Quote
Chetan wants space for him and his family
"I am not a vindictive person. More than anything I just want me and my family to be left alone and people to ignore fake charges. Love to all who supported me. I won't let you down. This was my #MeToo story," Chetan tweeted.
Tweet
"I was intimidated by her, not the other way around"
In a tweet, he wrote in 2010 (when the incident purportedly happened), Ira was more powerful than him since she came from an influential family.
He posted a screenshot of an email which she sent him in 2013, that she ended with "Miss u kiss u" (sic).
Sharing the image, he asked who wanted to kiss whom and pointed out the difference in dates.
Twitter Post
Please don't harm a movement, Chetan Bhagat writes
So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018