Director Anurag Kashyap, who is currently fighting a legal battle against his former Phantom Films partner Vikas Bahl says that he stayed quiet about sexual harassment allegations against Bahl to protect the victim.
In an interview he said: "I cannot talk much. Because at this moment whatever I say may be misconstrued or can be taken in any which way and can be used here (in this case). All these years my silence (was) to protect one person, the victim. I will take the consequences and I have been taking the consequences. I will take the consequences and I have voluntarily taken consequences and stepped back from the work. I will not explain my actions. My priority is something else."
And the priority at the moment is the "victim's peace", he said.
Addressing the question why women, who've come forward with their MeToo stories, not followed in the same footsteps as Tanushree Dutta and Vinta Nanda and filed a lawsuit, Kashyap said, "We are still growing up to it, we are still understanding it."
"Years of anger will come out and then people will come to know what is the right way. We all will take time to understand. I don't want to say anything further till my non-complicity is proven, I am not qualified to comment on it."
Indian director Vikas Bahl has been accused of sexual assault by a female crew member from the set of Bombay Velvet She revealed details of the incident to HuffPo India.
Following which production house Phantom Films, a joint venture of Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, dissolved and Kashyap confessed that the woman first approached him about the assault but he didn't take action.
Bahl, subsequently filed a INR10 crore defamation lawsuit against Kashyap and Motwane stating they made "defamatory, slanderous and baseless allegations" against him and damaged his reputation
After the allegations surfaced, the Indian Film & TV Directors' Association (IFTA) issued Vikas Bahl a show-cause notice and suspended him from his position as board member.
