#MetooIndia Movement catching momentum in India

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In 2017, India was witness to the widespread #MeToo movement online, which prompted many survivors to speak up on social media about the harassment and abuse that they had faced over the years and continued to. It was also the year that a list of academics accused of sexual harassment was published by Raya Sarkar, which lead to a larger debate about due process and its failings — the very reason that prompted the making of such a list.


How #MeToo movement started ?

The Me Too movement (or #MeToo movement), with many local and international alternatives, is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. #MeToo spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag used on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace. It followed soon after the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein.Tarana Burke, an American social activist and community organizer, began using the phrase "Me Too" as early as 2006, and the phrase was later popularized by American actress Alyssa Milano, on Twitter in 2017. Milano encouraged victims of sexual harassment to tweet about it and "give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem". This was met with success that included but was not limited to high-profile posts from several American celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lawrence and Uma Thurman.

The phrase "Me too" was tweeted by Milano around noon on October 15, 2017, and had been used more than 200,000 times by the end of the day, and tweeted more than 500,000 times by October 16. On Facebook, the hashtag was used by more than 4.7 million people in 12 million posts during the first 24 hours. The platform reported that 45% of users in the United States had a friend who had posted using the term.

#MetooIndia Movement

Our society is decaying as we live and breathe.

It seems mostly everyone has had some type of sexual misconduct in their lives. And it has taken decades for many to bring up that experience into their current reality. It’s a nightmare all over again.


It all started with writer Mahima Kukreja calling out comedian Utsav Chakraborty for sending her a picture of his genitalia without consent.

“This happened two years ago. I was new to the city (Mumbai). He sent me a dick pic. I told Tanmay Bhat and Kunal Kamra about it. Kamra alerted others of Utsav’s behaviour. But AIB continued to give him work. A 17-year-old intern at OML had to quit because of workplace harassment. If people had held Utsav accountable for his behaviour then, he would not have gone and harassed so many other women. I am myself mentally exhausted and in trauma reading account after account of women who are writing in to me about his behaviour. I’m glad people are talking about it,” she said over the phone.

She posted screenshots of her chats with other women who shared similar incidents when Chakraborty privately messaged them asking for nude pictures, his phone number, or sent them dick pics. Among the accusers is a woman who was 17 when the stand up comic allegedly asked her for a photo that showed her cleavage. Chakraborty put out a tweet saying he has never asked an underage person for nudes. Kukreja says a floodgate of allegations will open if more women come forward. Comedy collective All India Bakchod put out a statement saying they were sorry and that they “let their cognitive biases do the work our critical faculties should have”.

In response, Chakraborty, who first spoke of “context”, and belligerently challenged his accusers, later said he was sorry and faced a “scary personal truth”.

“It's a little too late now but I am sorry. I really am. The past 24 hours were a crucible. I faced a very scary personal truth. I can't think of myself as a victim anymore. Please tell me what to do now. How to make things right? I don't want anyone to be hurt anymore,” he wrote. What is evident is the complicity of men in the industry who have helped people like Chakraborty thrive and continue to get work.


In a  separate instance, Sandhya Manon (https://twitter.com/TheRestlessQuil) accused Gautam Adhikari, who was editor in chief of the Mumbai edition of DNA at the time of the incident. She says that after an evening outing, when he was dropping her home, he forcibly kissed her and later warned her against telling anyone else that it happened.

#MetooIndia movement is catching momentum and people are coming out on Social Media platform like twitter to post their anger.