Mumbai: As the #MeToo wave has begun to sweep over the nation, the latest to be outed as a harasser is popular Indian author Chetan Bhagat. On Saturday, in a debate on the #MeToo movement on Twitter, Bhagat’s name was mentioned by a user along with screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation he had had with her acquaintance.
The screenshots were of a conversation of a woman journalist with Bhagat where he tried to “woo” her after saying that he had “felt a connection” with her, calling her “sweet and cute and funny and a nice human being”.
After the tweet went viral, Bhagat, on Saturday, posted a statement on Facebook accepting that the screenshots authentic and apologising for the way he behaved with the woman. He also explained that he was probably going through a “phase”, which is why he behaved that way. He also clarified that the conversation happened years ago and nothing physical happened between him and the woman. “I also want to clarify that there never was nothing physical, no lewd pictures or words that were ever exchanged. I think I deleted the person’s number soon thereafter and we haven’t been in touch for years,” he said in the post.
He added that he had confessed and apologised to his wife, Anusha, about the incident and had uploaded the post after running it by her.
His post further read, “I just had not felt that kind of connection in a while. Maybe I was going through a phase, maybe these things just happen, or maybe I felt the person felt the same too based on our conversations (which I don’t need to repeat here). However, it was stupid of me, to feel that way and to even share that with her… We do feel certain things sometimes, and I did too. I found this person special, and different from all others I had met. I shouldn’t have, and maybe I shouldn’t have shared it with that person in a private conversation either. Once again, I am sorry to the person concerned, and of course most of all to Anusha. I hope you can forgive me.”
There has been a lot of debate regarding Bhagat’s behaviour on the Twitter thread. some have argued that Bhagat was merely flirting with the woman while others are arguing that his behaviour is tantamount to harassment.
