A no means a no: Jacqueline Fernandez gets a lesson in consent

Experts say that Jacqueline Fernandez should have listened when the boy said no as nobody has the right to make a child feel uncomfortable.

When actor Jacqueline Fernandez shared a video clip from one of the promotional events of her upcoming film Race 3, on social media, little did she know that the act would misfire and lead to severe backlash.

Actor Jacqueline Fernandez will soon be seen in Race 3.(HT PHOTO)

In the clip, the actor, who was present on the sets of a child reality show with co-star Salman Khan, is seen hugging a child on stage even as he says no. Salman can be seen holding the child and asking Jacqueline to hug him again “tightly”. Soon after the clip was uploaded, people on social media decided to teach them the concept of consent.

A follower, iamkunal05 wrote: Guess the scenario would have been different if it was a girl n a male actor would have done this. This wasn’t funny.”

While parularora19 posted, “ You can clearly see The boy is uncomfortable and doesn’t want to be hugged! A ‘No’ means a No!”.

Experts say that this act was no less than abuse. “I think what has happened is unfortunate because such an act can make a child feel very suffocated. Jacqueline should have listened when he said ‘no’,” says clinical psychologist Pulkit Sharma.

Film-maker Shoojit Sircar, who has time and again opposed the concept of child reality shows through social media posts, says, “My opinion is still the same as my tweet many months back. These reality shows with children should be banned immediately. These are actually adult shows and such concepts snatch away the innocence and purity of a child.” Film-maker Amole Gupte adds, “Nobody has the right to make a child uncomfortable, period! Whether it is a girl or a boy is not the point of discussion.”

However, film-maker Shashank Khaitan, who is one of the judges on the same show, wants everyone to wait for the episode to be telecast before jumping to any conclusion.“I would not like to comment on this. Let’s wait for the episode to go on air first,” he says.

Film-maker Remo D’souza, who has judged kids’ reality shows in the past hasn’t seen the clip but feels that Salman can never go wrong with kids. “We all know Salman Khan and how he is with the kids and he is good with them. I don’t think that they did anything with a wrong intention. I haven’t seen the clip so I need to see it to be able to react to it,” says D’souza.

Salman and Jacqueline remained unavailable for a comment.

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