From improper touch to indecent proposals, there is not a single women that i know who has not faced some sort of sexual advance in her life time. And these attempts start early in life, long before a girl becomes a women or even before she understands her sexuality in the first place.
The offenders are – almost always – the very people she is supposed to trust to protect her, elders in family, friends and even bosses.
While the tirade above is widely known, it must be examined with regards to the Me too claims. Lets be honest, most of the Me Too claims will not withstand the legal scrutiny, there will almost always be based on events in private with no witnesses or proof. Even circumstantial evidence would have been dusted by time. Then there is lapse in time itself. The Me Too allegations will never end up proving ‘outraging modesty of woman’ under IPC 354, however the victims will be prosecuted for Defamation.
The legal challenge to the women has already started. Alok Nath has send a legal notice for Vinta Nanda. Subhash Ghai has threatened legal action on his detractors, so has Vikas Bahl.
The fact is that given the social naming and shaming is clearly an easy to prove crime, intimate moments between two adults is not. Even if a sexual intent by the alleged predator is established, it will be difficult to prove that the actions at the time were not consensual.
Just as each and every allegation will melt down in the face of legal actions, we as a society will again tell our young girls to keep quite, do not go out in dark or walk alone without a male relative to protect. #MeToo is going to contribute towards women oppression, not because women were wrong to cry but because we as a society are just deaf to listen.
