Mumbai: Mumbai High Court has restrained #Me-Too survivor actress Tanushree Dutta from making allegations against actor Nana Patekar. The actor’s NGO, Naam Foundation had slapped a Rs 25-crore defamation suit against her, for speaking out against it at a press conference recently.
Justice AK Menon granted Naam relief in Dutta’s absence, as she was unable to be present in the court or be represented by an advocate in time.
“That pending the hearing and final disposal of the present suit, this Hon’ble court be pleased to restrain the defendant (Tanushree Dutta) from further publishing or using in any way the said defamatory press conference or its contents to cause further damage to the plaintiff’s reputation with respect to siphoning of funds, bribery, subverting police and judicial system, collecting funds on false pretext, improper maintaining of the plaintiff’s (Naam Foundation’s) accounts,” the court order reads, granting the relief in the petition.
The suit comes merely two years after Dutta became the first Bollywood personality to speak out against sexual harassment at workplace by accusing the veteran actor of Bollywood repeatedly touching her inappropriately way back in 2008, on the sets of the film “Horn OK Please”. She accused the director Rakesh Sarang, Choreographer Ganesh Acharya and Producer Sami Siddiqui of being complicit.
In last June, the police closed the case against all the accused, terming the complaint as “false”. Apparently, Tanushree’s petition against the closure is currently pending before the same court.
In her defense Tanushree reiterated that the suit is a clear indication of how far Nana Patekar can go to trouble and silence me whenever I point out corruption.
She added that she will not back down and that she will demand an investigation into the functioning of his NGO.
Infact, many women who levelled allegations against their alleged perpetrators during the #MeToo movement in 2018 are facing defamation cases lodged by their accusers. Journalist Priya Ramani is one of those, after she accused veteran journalist MJ Akbar of sexually harassing several women, including her.
In the petition, the foundation floated by Nana Patekar and Makarand Anaspure in September 2015 claimed that they have been working for the betterment of farmers in drought- affected areas since its inception. And that ‘allegations’ and ‘insinuations’ made by Dutta during a press conference hosted in January 2020 “caused enormous damage to the foundation’s reputation.”
Dutta had conducted the press conference to ibrong to the notice of the media about the plea she had filed, in her sexual harassment case, against the police’s closure report. The foundation claimed that Tanushree asked for the copy of the petition to be given to the lawyer, claiming that she was absent despite knowing about the case.
According to Justice Menon, Naam claims to be involved in charitable work in villages, among several other claims, none of these claims is opposed. “The transcript indicates that various allegations have been levelled in respect of the plaintiff’s (Naam) activities, which appears defamatory.” It added that “nothing on record indicates” it is a “fly-by night operator,” especially since Dutta was not present.
Dutta affirmed that she was in the process of filing a reply and would seek a detailed CBI inquiry against the foundation. The last time when Nana Patekar tried to shut her up with a defamation notice, she responded with a police complaint.
As an young and talented actor she was troubled by these people that it just put a halt to her career for a long time. Her challenges in life made her an activist and she as decided to never back down. History will remember her for her fight.
News Edit by K.V.Raman
