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‘I am not a harasser. Never was, never will be’: Chetan Bhagat responds to #MeToo allegations

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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Oct 10: Days after apologising for messages he had sent a woman, author Chetan Bhagat on Wednesday said that he and his family are being harassed after his name surfaced in the ongoing #MeToo campaign.

Chetan Bhagat

"I am not a harasser, never was, never will be". Alleging that the #MeToo movement unfolding in India is being "corrupted", he said: "I would like to officially put a stop to this nonsense targeting me," he wrote in a Facebook post that was shared publicly.

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Bhagat said that the leaked conversation between him and a woman had a background, which has been completely omitted. He said that he had already apologised both to his wife, and the woman, soon after the post surfaced.

"Beyond that, this was a personal matter. Legally too, there was nothing more to it, as anyone who has seen those chats would agree," the writer said.

"Despite this, my name was added to a growing list of people accused of the most heinous crimes, and flashed all over as a part of rape, sexual assault and all kinds of major criminal activity stories," he said.

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"It was now time for everyone who had a grudge against me (and, you know, plenty do on Twitter) to have a go at me. Kick a man when he is low, classy right?" he said.

Chetan Bhagat said, "A 'responsible' newspaper put my name on its front page as lead story - because you know, you need a famous guy to make a headline. All this because I had a flirtatious conversation with a girl who was conversing back with me."

He further said, "I must say many people did understand the difference in the cases and conveyed it to me. However, it was not easy for my family - bearing up stoically and supporting me unconditionally -to answer inane queries from all and sundry. Please bear in mind that baseless allegations like these affect my wife, my 70-year-old mother, my elderly in-laws and my teenage twin sons. Each of them suffer in their own way."

Read the full text of his Facebook post here:

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