NCP for fair probe into sexual harassment case against Patekar

The NCP Thursday said it wanted a "fair" investigation into actor Tanushree Dutta's allegations of sexual harassment against veteran actor Nana Patekar.

Party spokesperson Nawab Malik also said the #Metoo campaign, which is sweeping mainly the media and entertainment industries with many women coming forward with their accounts of sexual harassment they had faced in the past, would achieve its goal only when the guilty people are brought to book.

He said the NCP's stand on the issue is that the harassed women should approach the investigating authorities to lodge complaints against their tormentors.

Responding to a question on the FIR registered against Patekar and others by Mumbai police on the complaint of Dutta, Malik said the NCP is in the favour of a "fair investigation".

"The #Metoo campaign would reach its logical conclusion when the guilty are booked by law. Nobody is above law, be it a top actor, a Central minister or a journalist," he said in an apparent reference to Union Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar.

As the #MeToo campaign gathered momentum, some women journalists have come out and accused Akbar of sexually harassing them during his stint as an editor in two newspapers.

Dutta has accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the sets of a film in 2008.

Police Wednesday registered an FIR against Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddhiquiand director of the movie, Rakesh Sarang under various sections of the IPC for outraging the modesty of a woman.

No arrest is made so far, police had said.