Losing and winning battles of the #MeToo movement

It’s true that some men think #MeToo is a punch line and the fact that women aren’t responding with violence is a testament to feminists’ patience and calm

It’s been a week of dismissive statements about women and feminism. First, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal informed us that #MeToo is not a movement but “a fad”, thus proving that it’s not just his facial hair that’s stuck in the 1980s. Then, actress Preity Zinta informed us that she wishes she’d been molested – because apparently that’s a fun way of doing job interviews in Bollywood. Finally, on Saturday, television actress Kate Sharma told Mumbai Police that she wished to withdraw her complaint against director and producer Subhash Ghai. “Nothing has happened, nobody has been arrested,” Sharma told Mid-Day by way of explanation, adding that everyone was “making fun” of the #MeToo campaign.

It’s true that some men think #MeToo is a punch line and the fact that women aren’t responding with violence is a testament to feminists’ patience and calm. Here’s a randomly-selected sample of attempts at timely humour by Indian men. “Is it ok if I give you a hug or will you go all #MeToo on me?” “I told my girlfriend, ‘Babe, with all this #MeToo stuff, we’re only meeting in public, ok?’” “I’m telling you, all this #MeToo is basically a lesbian conspiracy to get our girls.”

Ok then. If not anything else, this certainly explains why more women are committed to remaining single in India today than ever before.

Despite Sharma’s decision to withdraw her complaint, this has actually been a good week for #MeToo. On November 21, two first information reports (FIRs) were registered – one against actor Alok Nath and the other against casting director Vicky Sadana. This is not a minor detail. FIRs don’t get filed casually. The police don’t register FIRs unless they’re confident of putting together credible and concrete evidence. Both Nath and Sadana had lodged formal complaints in October, which were investigated and on that basis, the FIRs were filed in November. This is not just reasonably swift, it’s also an acknowledgement that these complaints are serious and being duly processed.

Traditionally, neither the police nor the courts have been sympathetic to the concept of a survivor needing time to cope with their trauma before filing a complaint. Mumbai Police bucked that trend this week by filing those FIRs. It effectively put its weight behind the allegations recorded by Vinta Nanda, who said Nath raped her 19 years ago, and Kritika Sharma, who said Sadana had attempted to rape her in 2013. There’s still a long journey ahead for Nanda and Kritika, on a road potholed with court appearances, delays and forgetfulness. Still, at least it’s all out in the open rather than shrouded in shame and anonymity. If there was ever a good reason to have one for the road, this is it.