Multilingual actor Sruthi Hariharan, who has stirred up a hornets’ nest by accusing co-star Arjun Sarja of “inappropriate” and “sexually coloured” conduct, has decided to take the issue, legally, to a logical conclusion, with the support of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the Film Industry for Rights and Equity (FIRE).
Because of technical hindrances with regard to the FIRE committee taking up the case, Ms. Hariharan has decided to take the legal recourse and FIRE will support her, said Chetan Ahimsa, secretary of FIRE.
Refusing to divulge details of the incident, Ms. Hariharan said: “I am legally bound against disclosing evidence at this stage and will submit proof to the court in due course.”
Addressing presspersons here on Sunday, Ms. Hariharan said: “People in position and power are abusing it. Those, who call themselves superstars, are taking advantage of the vulnerable”.
Ms. Hariharan praised the #MeToo campaign for giving her the courage to raise the issue. Observing that she had explained whatever had happened then, the actress said: “I have just questioned his (Arjun Sarja) unprofessional and uncomfortable behaviour”.
Stating that she has been receiving threatening calls from Arjun Sarja fan clubs, the actress said that she was feeling unsafe.
She also denied that she had exchanged personal messages with Mr. Arjun after the incident.
Members of the FIRE committee, such as Mr. Ahimsa, Kavitha Lankesh, Jayalakshmi Patil, Roopa Iyer, Panchami and others, said that Ms. Hariharan’s decision to share her agony gave courage to others to share the harassment meted out to them in their professional film career.
While a section of the film industry, including KFPA, is questioning the rationale behind the actor raising such questions after a year, many of her co-stars, such as Prakash Raj, Shraddha Srinath and Neetu Shetty, supported her.
