Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Wednesday said she has been receiving rape threats on social media after she wrote to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur to remove filmmaker Sajid Khan out of Bigg Boss over allegations of sexual harassment against him.
She also asked Delhi Police to arrest the people who allegedly gave her rape threats. “Ever since I wrote a letter to the I&B minister to get #SajidKhan out of Bigg Boss, I have been receiving rape threats on Instagram. Obviously, they want to stop our work. I am giving a complaint to Delhi Police. Register FIR and investigate. Arrest those who are behind them,” she tweeted.
Earlier on Monday the DCW chief took to her Twitter account and said that the numerous complaints against Sajid Khan show his ‘disgusting mentality.
“Ten women had accused Sajid Khan of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement. All these complaints show the disgusting mentality of Sajid. Now, this man has been given a place in Bigg Boss, which is wrong. I have written to @ianuragthakur to have Sajid Khan removed from this show,” she tweeted.
Ten females had made severe sexual harassment allegations against Sajid and he is now a contestant in the reality show instead of jail. He had asked a few minors to strip naked during auditions to get a role in his movies ‘Housefull 4’ and ‘Humshakals’, the DCW chief said.
She questioned the minister if he really thinks that a man like Sajid Khan should be allowed to whitewash his image by going to Bigg Boss. “Bigg Boss is doing such an act only for TRP, there should be some action on the Bigg Boss show too,” she demanded.
Colors TV’s decision to bring Sajid to the Bigg Boss house is being criticised by many including singer Sona Mohapatra who claimed that she faced harassment at the hands of music composer Anu Malik.
Filmmaker Sajid Khan’s participation in the new season of Bigg Boss 16 started on 1 October has led to a lot of anger among people.
Sajid was mired in the #MeToo controversy in 2018 after nine women from the industry – who worked with Khan on his various projects – had accused the filmmaker of sexually harassing them. Actresses like Saloni Chopra, Sherlyn Chopra, Aahana Kumra and Mandana Karimi, among others, had allegedly levelled the allegations against him.
In an Instagram post, Sona requested filmmaker Farhan Akhtar to raise his voice against Sajid’s participation in the reality show. “This is #SajidKhan, now on a reality TV show. Then there is #AnuMalik judging a music reality show on TV, for children no less. #KailashKher? Celebrity Judge on TV. ALL called out by many many women in @IndiaMeToo. Indian TV channels, executives are indeed depraved & sad lot,” she wrote.
After facing the allegations, Sajid decided to take a ‘moral responsibility of stepping down’ from his directorial post at ‘Houseful 4’. The directorial responsibilities were handed over to filmmaker Farhad Samji. He also said that he decided because ‘pressure’ was being put on his family.