Now is the time to speak up: Parineeti on #MeToo

In the wake of the ongoing #MeToo campaign, Parineeti Chopra has called on other victims to come out in open about their stories.

While speaking to ANI, the actor passed on a message to the people who are still scared of speaking out, saying the time has come to do the same.

"We are surrounded by people who will support us. If you fail to speak up now, you will have to live with it forever," said the 29-year-old.

She further stressed, "The thing worse than this would be to not be able to punish those men who have done them wrong. They will just be living a normal life and will get more freedom to do the same to someone else as well."

Her 'Namaste England' co-star, Arjun Kapoor, lauded the courage of the #MeToo survivors and said, "The women, who are now opening up about their sexual harassment stories after so many years, have lived with the pain for this long. Their courage is commendable. We, as men, need to listen to that. We, as human beings, need to listen, understand and absorb."

The 'Half Girlfriend' star asserted that we need to understand this matter and act upon it very carefully "as it can affect the future generations as well. The mistakes that were made in the past cannot be changed, but we need to teach the correct thing to the coming generation."

"As an industry, we could be the villain right now, as it is because of the industry that the message is being passed on. However, this is a global issue and as men, we need to change our mindset because 'no' actually means 'no'," said Arjun.

Filmmaker Vipul Shah also voiced his opinion on the issue and stated that the victims should be given justice by punishing those guilty.

"All I want is justice for the people who are now speaking out their incidences. I believe the police should now take action and all the cases that have been brought to light should be investigated. The guilty or the accused should be punished for the sake of victims' justice," Shah told ANI.

The #MeToo movement gained momentum in India after Tanushree Dutta accused veteran actor Nana Patekar of harassment.