As Anurag Kashyap is facing sexual harassment allegations by actress Payal Ghosh, Huma Qureshi finally broke silence over the controversy.
In a statement, Huma Qureshi said that the filmmaker never misbehaved with her. She added that she didn’t comment on controversy till now as she doesn’t believe in social media fights and media trials.
Huma Qureshi shared the statement on Twitter.
The statement reads, “Anurag and I last worked together in 2012-13 and he is a dear friend and an extremely talented director. In my personal experience and to my knowledge he has neither misbehaved with me or anyone else. However, anyone who claims to be abused must report it to the authorities, the police and the judiciary.
“I chose not to comment till now because I don’t believe in social media fights and media trials. I feel really angry at being dragged into this mess. I feel angry not just for myself but also every woman whose years of hard work and struggle gets reduced to such baseless conjecture and allegations in their workplace. Please let’s refrain from this narrative.”
— Huma Qureshi (@humasqureshi) September 22, 2020
Huma added that it is the responsibility of both men and women to carefully protect the sanctity of #MeToo movement.
Earlier, renowned film director Anurag Kashyap had denied sexual harassment claims by Payal.
‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ maker Anurag Kashyap has called the allegations ‘baseless’. He had denied the allegations and wrote, “All I want to say is all allegations are baseless.”
Payal Ghosh, who has worked in films such as ‘Patel Ki Punjabi Shaadi’, had blamed Kashyap for forcing himself on her.
Kashyap tweeted, “Wow, it took you so long to make an attempt to silence me. Never mind… in a bid to silence me, you have dragged another woman in this, despite being a woman. Please stick to the limits, Madame. All I want to say is all allegations are baseless.”
Payal Ghosh, in the interview, had revealed that he had told her “it is okay” after harassing her because other actresses he has worked with like Huma Qureshi and Mahi Gill “are just a call away.”