Author Chetan Bhagat had become one of the first celebrities to be named in what came to be known as India’s own MeToo campaign. The author swiftly responded, apologised and promised to make amends in his behaviour, while also profusely apologising to his wife.
Days later, the author faced more charges, this time by an author and a yoga expert, Ira Trivedi, who accused him of molesting her in 2010, when he allegedly tried to kiss her at India International Centre (IIC) in Delhi. Here’s what she wrote on Outlook website;
I met Chetan Bhagat close to a decade ago at the Jaipur Literature Festival. He was moderating a panel “Teen Deviya/ Three Goddesses” that I was a part of. Back then, Chetan was the star of the literary world and I felt both nervous and gleeful to be sharing the stage with him. During the panel, he asked me something to the effect “what do you do when men hit on you at book launches?” I replied – something along the lines of “I tell him that if he buys a 100 books I will kiss him, and if he buys all my books I will marry him.” I was 22 and I thought that I had just been very clever and sassy. I had not, however, given anyone permission or consent.
A few weeks later, he invited me to tea at the India International Centre, in my mind a perfectly innocuous place for two authors to meet. He asked me to come to his room but I suggested we meet in the tea-room instead. After our tea, he asked me to come up to his room on the pretext of giving me a signed copy of his book. As soon as I entered his room, he made a pass at me: I ducked as he tried to plant a kiss on my lips and then I laughed, because I didn’t know what else to do, or how to respond. I asked him what in the world he was trying to do and he told me coyly, without hesitation and almost with an air of entitlement, that he had bought a hundred copies of my books and donated them to a library in Pune, so a kiss was his prerogative. I ignored his comment and pretended to be amused though in reality I was shaken. This was a married man with children, whose family I had hung out with at the literature festival. This was uncalled for and shocking behaviour.
Now Bhagat has hit back at Ira calling out what he said were her lies. He posted an email that, according to him, Trivedi had sent him in 2013, three years after she was allegedly molested by him. In the email, Ira is seen asking for his help to get the IIC membership while ending her email with ‘Miss you kiss you.”
Bhagat wrote, “So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed.”
So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
Bhagat also posted a YouTube link of an event where Trivedi was launching her book and had invited Bhagat as the chief guest. This event had taken place in 2015, five years after Bhagat had allegedly molested Trivedi. In the video, Trivedi is seen calling Bhagat her friend while thanking him for supporting her book launch. While posting the video, Bhagat asked, “Who calls their harasser as chief guest for their book launch?”
He also slammed the Outlook website for not verifying facts with him before carrying the article. He wrote, “Shame on media like @outlookindia who carried a fake charges story without even checking with me. They could have easily checked on YouTube that I launched her book in 2015/16.”
Shame on media like @outlookindia who carried a fake charges story without even checking with me. They could have easily checked on YouTube that I launched her book in 2015/16. Who calls their harasser as chief guest for their book launch? Video here: https://t.co/g6uIOVLjeS
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
Bhagat wrote that he was supporter of MeToo movement but feared that ‘annoyed’ by his ‘revelations, more baseless, twisted attacks’ may come his way ‘through her friends, wellwishers &/or others.’ “Neither obligated nor inclined to respond. Please don’t believe such nonsense. I may go silent on twitter to heal my family but I won’t be shamed or silenced,” he wrote.