#MeToo: Confident that justice will prevail, says Anurag Kashyap

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap's lawyer has issued a statement describing the charge of sexual misconduct against him made by actress Payal Ghosh as 'false' and calling for severe action against her for 'misusing the criminal justice system'.

The filmmaker was questioned for eight hours by the Mumbai police on Thursday in connection with Ghosh's complaint of sexual misconduct by him in 2013.

In her statement, Kashyap's lawyer, Priyanka Khimani, said, "In an FIR registered at the Versova police station, one Ms Payal Ghosh alleged that in August 2013, my client, Mr Anurag Kashyap, called her to his house and sexually harassed her. My client presented himself for questioning before the investigating authority on 1 October 2020."

Khimani said Kashyap denied any wrongdoing on his part and recorded his statement. "The material provided by Mr Kashyap, in support of his statement, demonstrates that the complaint of Ms Ghosh is an outright lie," she said. "Mr Kashyap has provided documentary proof of the fact that throughout August 2013 he was away in Sri Lanka in connection with the shooting of one of his films."

Kashyap has maintained from the beginning that Ghosh's allegations were unfounded. The actress had accused Kashyap of trying to force himself upon her "in 2014 or 2015" in an interview with a Telugu news channel on 19 September. She followed it up with the police complaint.

Kashyap has received support from several of his peers and actresses as well as both his ex-wives, Kalki Koechlin and Aarti Bajaj. 

His lawyer said the purpose of the "sudden, belated" allegations of an incident that allegedly took place in August 2013 was only to vilify Kashyap, irrespective of the outcome of the judicial process. "Mr Kashyap is confident that the falsity of the complaint has been exposed, not only by the evidence presented by him but also by the ever-shifting version of events put forth by Ms Ghosh in the media," Khimani said in her statement. "Mr Kashyap is apprehensive that now that the falsity of her allegations in the FIR has been established, she will alter her version of events in the investigative process."

Khimani warned again that her client would seek legal remedy against Ghosh. "Mr Kashyap is distressed with the false and reckless allegations made against him that have caused pain to him, his family and his fans," she said. "Mr Kashyap intends to vigorously pursue the legal remedies available to him. He vehemently denies any such incident, as has been alleged, and sought severe action against Ms Ghosh for misusing the criminal justice system and hijacking the Me Too Movement for her ulterior motives. Mr Kashyap is confident that justice will prevail."