Singer Sona Mohapatra, who was the first one to call out Anu Malik during the MeToo movement, has shared her response to his statement released on Thursday.
Sona shared her around 8-point reply to Anu on Twitter and wrote, “Anu Malik finally wrote back to all of us last evening. My response to him, next to his letter. In case mine is too long to read, have also attached a shorter, crisper one, one amongst many on my timeline. Thank you @KallolDatta for saying it better #India @IndiaMeToo.”
ShutUpSona
✔@sonamohapatraAnu Malik finally wrote back to all of us last evening. My response to him, next to his letter.In case mine is too long to read, have also attached a shorter, crisper one, one amongst many on my timeline. Thank you @KallolDatta for saying it better #India @IndiaMeToo
Calling him out for being a judge on a reality show, Sona said, “It has been spoken about very clearly. You have no right to be platformed on National TV till you make amends. 1.3 billion people exist in India. Not everyone needs to make crores on TV to survive or be ‘judge’ to young people whose safety they jeopardise. You aren’t a role model. You could always take a break, go to a sex-rehab or counselling or somewhere to reflect on how to behave better. Ask your kids to do a hard days job & earn a salary. They are adults. I started working at 22. Do whatever it takes. Stay away from the public eye? Show some remorse? Say sorry? If you did, this would not have happened. There you go! You answered your own question.”
She also called him out for his explanation and said, “Being a father of two daughters doesn’t prove anything. Clearly it hasn’t held your libido back. History has shown us that multiple times in multiple real live stories. ‘Some’ Men will just be that .. .The show must go on. Without you. Don’t jeopardise the hard work of so many people & the dreams of so many contestants just for your personal glory & ambitions.”
She added, “Step Down Malik & yes, please do go to court. I request you to do so. Not just these 10 testimonies, we shall ensure ten times those are presented for the world to see. Let’s set a precedent for India, Mr Anu Malik. Let’s make sure no one feels like behaving like you have over the decades. I have the utmost faith that.”
She ended it saying, “Justice shall indeed be served.”
Mohapatra was the first to call Malik out last year, claiming that he would call her at odd hours and once referred to her as “maal” in front of her composer husband Ram Sampath.
Anu Malik
✔@The_AnuMalik
The music composer said he wondered why the allegations were resurfacing only when he is back on “television, which is currently my only source of livelihood?” “Being a father of two daughters, I 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,” he added.
Malik, 59, was first accused of misconduct last year during the #MeToo movement and was briefly dropped as a judge of a singing reality show on Sony channel. The allegations resurfaced with his reinstatement on the channel this September.
(With PTI inputs)
Prasanta Patnaik