Chetan Bhagat tweets screenshot of Ira Trivedi’s email as proof she continued speaking to him in affectionate terms, 3 years after he allegedly harassed her.
New Delhi: Two days after writer Ira Trivedi accused best-selling author Chetan Bhagat of sexual harassment, the latter has hit back. Bhagat Monday responded to her allegations by tweeting a screenshot of an email she sent him on 25 October 2013.
In the email, Trivedi says she is dying to become a member of the India International Centre although she’s “not sure why (be)cause I only go when you’re around”.
She then goes on to talk about an event that Bhagat attended, and matters related to writing. She signs off the mail, saying, “Miss u kiss u.”
So who wanted to kiss whom? @iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed pic.twitter.com/SWeaSCfHLd
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
Bhagat is using this piece of correspondence as proof that Trivedi continued speaking to him in familiar, affectionate terms, even three years after he allegedly harassed her.
“@iratrivedi’s self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, esp last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. Please don’t harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed,” Bhagat, the author of best-selling fiction such as Half Girlfriend, 2 States, Five Point Someone and One Night @ the Call Center, tweeted.
In her first-person account in Outlook India published two days ago, Trivedi wrote that she “met Chetan Bhagat close to a decade ago at the Jaipur Literature Festival. He was moderating a panel ‘Teen Deviya/ Three Goddesses’ that I was a part of.” This was in early 2010.
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A few weeks later, she claims, Bhagat invited her to tea at the India International Centre.
“As soon as I entered his room, he made a pass at me: I ducked as he tried to plant a kiss on my lips and then I laughed, because I didn’t know what else to do, or how to respond,” Trivedi alleged.
She also claimed that Bhagat groped her friend when the two were abroad, after which he “made several inappropriate passes physically and verbally” at her. Trivedi also wrote that she immediately confronted Bhagat on hearing about this incident.
“He denied everything, said that she had a ‘bad reputation’,” Trivedi added.
However, Trivedi maintained contact with Bhagat, and as the email suggests, they continued to remain well-acquainted even after these incidents transpired.
In a series of tweets defending himself, Bhagat also said that he launched Trivedi’s book in 2015-16, and slammed Outlook India for carrying a story “without even checking with me”.
“Who calls their harasser as chief guest for their book launch?” he asked, tweeting a video of the book release event.
Shame on media like @outlookindia who carried a fake charges story without even checking with me. They could have easily checked on YouTube that I launched her book in 2015/16. Who calls their harasser as chief guest for their book launch? Video here: https://t.co/g6uIOVLjeS
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
In her account, Trivedi said that she maintained contact with Bhagat because “the truth is that both these men were and remain powerful, important and influential, particularly in the world that I inhabit,” and that she was “fearful of burning that bridge, scared of saying something that would turn them against me, afraid that if I were to speak up, no one would care to listen”.
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Refuting her narrative, Bhagat said that Trivedi happens to be the daughter of a Delhi-based IAS officer.
“It is she who comes from a very powerful family connected to pol party (regularly dropped top names of people in power then). I was less known in 2010, was intimidated by her,” he tweeted.
Also, it is she who comes from very powerful family connected to pol party (regularly dropped top names of people in power then ). i was less known in 2010. was intimidated by her. My old col on Air India talks of entitled IAS kid demanding upgrades at Air India counter. It's her pic.twitter.com/GGNGjZgbz9
— Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) October 15, 2018
Trivedi, however, is not the only woman to speak up against alleged inappropriate behaviour by Bhagat.
Earlier this month, the author had issued a public apology on Facebook after WhatsApp screenshots of him flirting with a journalist went viral. Another journalist also alleged that he asked for her photographs while she was interviewing him on the phone.
Isn’t that a formidable defence? When someone articulates the words ‘kiss you’ – either verbally or in written communication – there is likely to be a great feeling of affection, an intent of flirtation, and perhaps even a tinge of infatuation. In this case, it just happens that like any ‘ordinary’ man, Bhagat may have slipped on this verbal stimulus and tried his luck. The key point is not that Bhagat tried to kiss Trivedi, but whether he stopped when she either said ‘NO’ or turned away her face. The tragedy in this frivolous drama is that Bhagat is being pushed down from the pedestal he had acquired after much effort, and Trivedi is able to climb up the cheap ladder of publicity. In the process, the real ‘metoo’ is becoming a comedy in this sordid, tabloid style debate.