Sajid Khan Sexual Harassment: Women Who Called Out Say, "Won't Be A Fair Trial in IFTDA. Why Haven't They Asked Us To Be Present?"

Alleged victims of Sajid Khan's sexual harassment are up in arms against the IFTDA's (Indian Films & Television Directors' Association) decision to call Sajid Khan tomorrow to hear his side of the story without calling any of them. In his response to IFTDA which was published in Bombay Times today, Sajid has denied the allegations made against him- and therefore the allegedly victims Rachel White, Simran Kaur, Saloni Chopra, Mandana Karimi, Karishma Upadhyay (journalist) and  Priyanka Bose- fear that the IFTDA trial will be not fair because none of the complainants who have written to IFTDA have been called to be present while Sajid faces questions. Mandana and Priyanka are yet to write to IFTA while the other four have.

The Tweets That Rumbled

The story began when Rachel White, Simran Kaur and Saloni Chopra reacted on social media to the news that the IFTDA has called Sajid tomorrow. Rachel White tells SpotboyE.com, "Are we idiots to have put our careers at stake? If we are not present tomorrow, what is the transparency? How is it a fair trial? I had even met IFTDA President Ashoke President and he told me that they will follow the procedure as it is indeed a very shocking case. But after that, we have come to know through only the media that Sajid is going to meet IFTDA tomorrow. We were never informed about any update. Questioning Sajid in our absence is disgusting. Anyway, Sajid has already denied the contents of the complaints in his statement to IFTDA." Saloni Chopra who was the first to call out Sajid, when asked for her opinion, too expressed displeasure over not being called. "Shocking," she quipped.

Here are those tweets:

Simran says, "In a situation like this where there is no evidence, our presence and eye-to-eye contact is essential to refute Sajid. We can even describe every bit of house which we remember when we had gone there. I even remember he had put up a picture of Jacqueline and himself in the room- around that time Sajid was casting for Himmatwala and was dating Jacqueline Fernandez. He cannot lie on our face. How can he be called inside closed doors, without any complainant around? He will say anything and they might believe his story. I also wonder why Sajid waited for so many days before replying to IFTDA, did some lawyer or friend help him?     

But really no matter what he says, we know even Bipasha Basu and Dia Mirza have gone on record to say that his conduct has not been good. I was talking to Mandana the other day and she told me that she believes that the guys who are around Sajid well know that he is not a saint."

Added Simran, "We are expecting a change. If there is no cleanup, people like Sajid will only get encouraged and continue doing what they are doing."


Sonali Chopra & Karishma Upadhyay

When contacted, Pandit told SpotboyE.com that the complainants have nothing to fear. "Please have trust in us. And have some patience. We have taken up this matter very seriously and shall treat it with dignity.

We have heard the Sajid Khan complainants at length when we met a few of them. The rest of them have written to us also in detail. So, we shall be questioning Sajid on all counts. Plus, we will have the minutes of whatever he says. We are doing a very transparent job. There's nothing to worry.

The next step would be to call all the complainants together and have a meeting with them. 


Sajid Khan & Ashoke Pandit

After that, we at IFTDA shall internally have an exhaustive meeting to decide if we need to call Sajid and the complainants together. If we feel there's a need to talk to them together, we will not hold ourselves back. If we feel there's no need to call them together, we will not. The complainants have complained to us and we respect that, now they need to observe some patience, and above all, have trust in us. If we weren't serious about their complaints, we wouldn't have taken up the issue.

We have involved a big NGO from Kolkata in this matter. Bhavna Talwar is one of the few ladies who will preside over the questioning. The committee that will question Sajid in fact, will have several ladies.

When we eventually give our decision at some point, it can stand in the court of law.  We know that the matter is serious and we are not here to make a fool of ourselves."

Well, it isn't long before we know what happens at the IFTDA meet with Sajid. And yeah, Vinta Nanda's alleged sexual offender Alok Nath has also been summoned.

Few hours to go from now, and we shall get you the details what transpires between IFTDA and Sajid Khan, IFTDA and Alok Nath. Don't go away.