The allegations have been made by award-winning journalist Vidya Krishnan, who says that the incident happened in 2003 when she was working at The Pioneer.
#MeToo
: India Today’s executive editor and top TV anchor Gaurav
Sawant has been accused of sexual assault. The allegations have
been made by Vidya Krishnan, who was the health editor at The Hindu
newspaper in New Delhi till last month.
The
case has been investigated and reported by the Caravan magazine’s
Nikita Saxena.
Krishnan
says that the incident took place in 2003 when she was working at The
Pioneer newspaper, which was run by Chandan Mitra, a former member of
parliament.
The
allegations include that he touched the fellow woman journalist’s
breasts, asked her to bathe with him, displayed his genitals to her
and physically forced her to touch his genitals.
The
Wire has reached out to Gaurav Sawant, India
Today, Chandan Mitra and Vidya Krishnan for responses. This
report will updated as and when they do respond.
In
a late night tweet, Sawant said, “The article published by Caravan
is irresponsible, baseless, and completely false. I am talking to my
lawyers and will take full legal action. So grateful to my family,
friends, and viewers for their support.”
NDTV
reported the response they received from the India Today group: “The
article is distressing to read. Unfortunately, we are in no position
to comment on it or investigate the matter since Gaurav Sawant was
not employed with us in 2003. Nevertheless, Mr. Sawant has been asked
to provide an explanation. Besides dismissing the allegations
entirely, he has informed us that he is consulting lawyers to seek
legal remedy.”
Apart
from being The Hindu’s health editor, Krishnan is an award-winning
journalist and a former fellow at the International Reporting
Project. Sawant has been a prominent defence correspondent. He
reported on the Kargil War in 1999.
In
the report, Krishnan says that she was hired at The Pioneer, her
first job, in 2003 when she was 21. Her very first out-of-town
assignment was to cover a peacetime drill at a military station in
Beas, Punjab. It was organised by the Indian Army.
Sawant,
already a well-known defence correspondent, was also on that trip.
He
was due to get married and that was something that was the talk of
the trip among reporters.
Krishnan
recalls that at the time of Sawant’s first sexual assault on her,
she was sitting in a military jeep. Sawant sat behind her. At one
point, he placed his right hand on her breast from behind her. “I
didn’t feel secure enough to tell anybody and say, ‘This is
happening, make it stop.’ I didn’t have the confidence to say
anything,” she told The Caravan.
After
the first incident, she says the abuse escalated. That night, Sawant
sent her a text message asking her to come to his room. He told her
that he wanted to get into a bathtub with her. She declined. Within
minutes, he reached her room and knocked at her door. When she opened
it, he let himself in. He then exposed his genitals to her and began
to force her to touch it.
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