Farhan Akhtar recently appeared on the panel of a summit, We The Women and spoke at length about his cousin, Sajid Khan, who has been accused of sexual harassment by a number of women. He was first accused of sexual misconduct by Saloni Chopra and then by a journalist.
According to Hindustan Times, while addressing the issue, Farhan said at the summit, “Every time something like this has happened in the public domain, I’ve been very vocal with my opinion. When it came to someone within my family, I felt silence on that front would be very, very hypocritical,”
“So pretty much on the first day when three women came out and spoke, I felt it was important for me to speak out. Sajid, being my brother, I need to now work with him, try to figure out how he can see this thing through and how it is that he can make the women who have been affected by his actions, somehow feel better,” he added.
Journalist Barkha Dutt who was also a part of the summit, told Farhan that an ‘apology alone would not suffice as sexual violation is a crime’, Farhan replied saying, “Absolutely. Whether stuff like this needs to go into the ambit of court is for them to decide. These are the things he (Sajid) has to face.” “To start with apologising is a big step. To say ‘I am sorry about what I did’ is a big step, it can make a person feel a lot better,” he added.
Feeling guilty about the fact that he didn’t know about Sajid’s misconduct all this while, the actor also added that 3 women came to him privately and confided in him after Sajid’s reports flashed all over, “There were two-three women who got in touch with me privately to say ‘listen you should know whatever is being said is true and he has behaved in a similar way with us as well.’ These are the people I’ve known for 12, 15, 20 years and meet them very often but nobody ever mentioned this to me. I asked them why didn’t you ever tell me? “I have been doing something with MARD for the last five years, I wouldn’t have been on his side if you had brought it to my attention but somehow they weren’t comfortable to speak about it,”
Image Source: Evbid & instagram/faroutakhtar
According to Hindustan Times, while addressing the issue, Farhan said at the summit, “Every time something like this has happened in the public domain, I’ve been very vocal with my opinion. When it came to someone within my family, I felt silence on that front would be very, very hypocritical,”
“So pretty much on the first day when three women came out and spoke, I felt it was important for me to speak out. Sajid, being my brother, I need to now work with him, try to figure out how he can see this thing through and how it is that he can make the women who have been affected by his actions, somehow feel better,” he added.
Journalist Barkha Dutt who was also a part of the summit, told Farhan that an ‘apology alone would not suffice as sexual violation is a crime’, Farhan replied saying, “Absolutely. Whether stuff like this needs to go into the ambit of court is for them to decide. These are the things he (Sajid) has to face.” “To start with apologising is a big step. To say ‘I am sorry about what I did’ is a big step, it can make a person feel a lot better,” he added.
Sajid Khan
Feeling guilty about the fact that he didn’t know about Sajid’s misconduct all this while, the actor also added that 3 women came to him privately and confided in him after Sajid’s reports flashed all over, “There were two-three women who got in touch with me privately to say ‘listen you should know whatever is being said is true and he has behaved in a similar way with us as well.’ These are the people I’ve known for 12, 15, 20 years and meet them very often but nobody ever mentioned this to me. I asked them why didn’t you ever tell me? “I have been doing something with MARD for the last five years, I wouldn’t have been on his side if you had brought it to my attention but somehow they weren’t comfortable to speak about it,”
Image Source: Evbid & instagram/faroutakhtar