Composer Anu Malik opens up on #MeToo allegations, says will move court to safeguard himself

Hyderabad: Singer-composer Anu Malik, who was accused of harassing women singers, took to social media on Thursday to stress that "false and unverified allegations” were levelled against him. In a lengthy note shared on Instagram, Malik said he is in a dark phase and that he deserved justice.

“It has been over a year that I have been accused of something that I haven't done. I have been silent all this while as I was waiting for the truth to surface on its own. But I realise that my silence on the matter has been misconstrued as my weakness,” he wrote.

Last year, singers Sona Mohapatra, Shweta Pandit and a few others had levelled sexual harassment charges on him. After more allegations surfaced, Sony TV announced that Malik was stepping down as a judge for the 10th season of singing reality show Indian Idol.

“Ever since the false and unverified allegations were levelled against me, it has not only ruined my reputation, but affected me and my family's mental health, left us traumatised, and tarnished my career. I feel helpless, like I am being cornered and suffocated,” Malik wrote. "It’s disgraceful that at this age, at this stage in my life I have to watch the most slanderous words and horrifying incidents being associated with my name.” Malik was reinstated in Indian Idol Season 11 this year.

Following Malik's note, singer Sona Mohapatra too issued a statement on her social media account where she said, “Mr Anu Malik, the only ‘truths’ that have surfaced after I called you out last year is that many more women have told their stories of sexual harassment, assault experiences with you.”

To Malik’s claim of “false and unverified” remark, she said, “These are multiple testimonies of independent sane women speaking coherently & they have a common story. What about the ‘mental health’ of all these people who have gone through this traumatic experience because of you?”

“Being a father of two daughters,” the singer-composer said, “can't imagine committing the acts that "I am accused of, let alone do it. Fighting a battle on social media is an endless process, at the end of which nobody wins. If this keeps on continuing, I will have no option but to knock on the doors of the courts to safeguard myself.”

To this, Sona Mohapatra said, "Yes, go to court. Not just 10, 10 times those will come forward as testimonies & we shall set a precedence for sexual harassment cases in India.”

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