Author Chetan Bhagat has hit out against the allegations of sexual misconduct, saying that he never was a harasser and he never will be one. He was reacting to screenshots of different conversations with the author doing the rounds on the internet, some women alleging bad behaviour from his part. "A few days ago, a girl who had become friendly with me leaked some screenshots of what now almost everyone agrees was a flirtatious, but friendly and polite conversation. There was a background to it of course, which was omitted. Anyway, since I am married, it was seen as an attempted infidelity, and hence the right thing to do was to apologise, which I did instantly. To the person in question and to my wife. Beyond that, this was a personal matter. Legally too, there was nothing more to it, as anyone who has seen those chats would agree," he wrote.
"Despite this, my name was added to a growing list of people accused of the most heinous crimes, and flashed all over as a part of rape, sexual assault and all kinds of major criminal activity stories. A ‘responsible’ newspaper put my name on its front page as lead story – because you know, you need a famous guy to make a headline. All this because I had a flirtatious conversation with a girl who was conversing back with me."
He wrote about an erotica writer, who he alleged that an 'erotica writer' who contacted him put out some screenshots of conversations with him without context.
"So, here’s an example of what also took place. And no, I am not kidding. This really happened. And since I am going through this situation right now, you need to read this to understand what’s happening," he wrote. A portion of his Facebook post is recreated below.
A couple of years ago, a person who described herself as an “erotica” writer met me as part of some shoot. She sent me a story first (and I have it in my email, anybody curious can get it checked.) Here’s a sample of what was in that story. Again, this is not me writing. These are her lines she sent to me first. (Dear Facebook, don’t remove this – I am making a point here).
Sample one:
‘You need to be shown your place,’ he says, as he unzips and presses his erection against the back of her ass. She pushes herself away from the drawers, readying herself to be taken as Dev makes his way to her moist vagina with his hard cock.
Or let’s take sample two:
He reaches for her breasts, squeezing them hard as he thrusts himself inside of her. Roshni yelps as she feels his penis snake inside her body, every thrust giving her life.
Sample three:
She opens her eyes in disbelief and turns around to see Dev holding his flaccid penis, with semen running down his bronze, well-toned legs.
I will let you be the judge of the content on whether it is “erotica” or something else. This is the first written communication the lady ever had with me. She also wanted me to consider co-writing a story (and literally hundreds of writers have come up to me with that idea.) And I wasn’t interested.
However, I had never met a person like her before: a female writer of sex/ porn/ erotica (as an aside, from what I understand, if it is meant to turn you on and is extremely explicit, it is porn, not erotica) was someone I had never met. And since I am a writer and I research people and human nature, I wanted to ask her some questions. Also, at that time, 50 Shades of Grey was a rage, so I wanted to know what drives people to write and read all this. These were questions I could have asked a writer like her anywhere – like for instance at a panel at a literature fest.
Anyway, so we had a chat, an amiable chat. I was not interested in her in any other way other than as a research subject. She was happy to answer the questions. And that was that.
Cut to many years later – guess what? Chetan’s name is being dragged through mud, let me join the party – and she puts out those screenshots. Her buddies high-five her, without knowing any context, and she becomes a victim too! This really has happened. I am not going to give her publicity but you can find the screenshots. She is obviously being trolled a lot for them, as people have now finally realized what is real #MeToo and what is #FakeMeToo. Unfortunately in India no matter what or how noble the cause, it always ends up being corrupted.
