Nandita Das's father accused of grabbing, kissing woman at his studio

Artist Jatin Das

Days after anonymous #MeToo posts went up on social media alluding to "male curator" or "senior queer feminist artist" in reference to sexual harassers, an anonymous post amed Padma Bhushan Jatin Das, painter, sculptor. Yesterday, Nisha Bora, co-founder of Elrhino Paper, a paper company, detailed her experience with Das in 2004, when he forcibly tried to kiss her during an assignment.

The world of art is normally immune to current affairs. But, as it has shown across the world, no one is immune to #MeToo. An anonymous Instagram account, @herdsceneand, was initiated on October 8 as a means of "cutting through BS in the Indian art world, one predator at a time". While the initial posts didn't name anyone specifically, it used terms such as "male curator" or "senior queer feminist artist" in reference to a harasser. Two days ago, an anonymous post accused Padma Bhushan Jatin Das, painter, sculptor, and father of filmmaker Nandita Das, of inviting the woman to his bedroom in her nightclothes.

Sameer Kulavoor, Sanket Avlani

The woman was to be his assistant, but fled from the proposition. Yesterday, another woman, Nisha Bora, co-founder of Elrhino Paper, a paper company, detailed, on Twitter, her experience with Das in 2004, when he forcibly tried to kiss her during an assignment. We reached out to Bora and Das yesterday.

Jatin Das, painter and sculptor
There has been an allegation online that you molested a woman called Nisha Bora in 2004...
I don't know what to say about this kind of cheap allegation going on in the paper about various people. Some may be real, some may be concocted with other people. I have no knowledge. One doesn't behave like this with anybody. One can make allegations and you make what you will out of it. Anybody can make an allegation about anybody. I have no knowledge about this.

Are you saying that you have not heard of Nisha Bora?
Various people come to see you and meet you. I don't remember at all. Whether you remember a person or face or not, one has enough self-esteem to not behave like this with anybody. This is shocking. I don't know what to say.

Would you like to make a more detailed statement?
What statement? Put yourself in my place. If somebody makes an allegation about you, of which you have no knowledge or memory of, it's terrible. One has been forthright and honest all one's life. Now, it's a public forum. Anybody can make an allegation about anybody. It's not a question of whether one remembers or not, one doesn't behave like this with anybody. This is ridiculous. It's very, very, very upsetting. What more can I say? If you were in a similar situation, what would you say?

Nisha Bora, co-founder, Elrhino Paper
Is there something from the incident that you haven't mentioned in the post?
The post has every single detail that I recall, practically every single emotion that I feel. I don't have anything to add. I would have been happy to give you more details, if I had any.

You've mentioned that you've spoken to a bunch of people from the world of art who corroborate your account. How many people did you speak to?
I'm not at liberty to tell you how many people. But, everybody has said, 'Oh yeah, he's a well-known name. He's known to do things with women.' So, young artists are always told to stay away from him or beware of him. Each time I have said that I'm surprised that nobody is coming forward. Nobody has so far, but there's an Instagram page called @herdsceneand, because he has been outed there by an anonymous person. That Instagram page came up a couple of days ago. That has victims' statements, survivors' statements. He has been named in that statement. In response to that, I had commented, 'MeToo' and another person, too, said 'MeToo'. There are at least three people, including me, right there, talking about this.

Did you ever encounter him in another social situation after that?
I don't want to answer that actually, because I don't think it's relevant. This [the questions] is what I need to avoid. I need to make sure my family is okay. I need to make sure that my private life does not become a public spectacle.

Did you confide in anyone else when it happened in 2004?
I told them that he's really sleazy, and I can't go back there. I was supposed to go back. It wasn't the end of my work with him. I left and I didn't go back. I didn't actually share the details of the incident, that he tried to kiss me, and basically molested me. I didn't tell anyone. One of the things I want to say on record is that this is not about Nandita Das. I was concerned when I was putting it out there that it will become about my parents or his family. I want to say that anything else that happens around this is not my intent. My intent was only to talk about what happened to me. What surprised me, over the past week, is that when I spoke to people from the art world over the phone, every single person said, 'Yeah, he's known to be like that.' That was really alarming to me, because I had no connection with the art world. I had no knowledge, otherwise, of course, I wouldn't have gone to him. So, it surprises me that someone can be predatory for so long, in such a public way, and not get called out. With such a feminist daughter at that.

Taxi Fabric co-founder called out, too
In the wake of India's #MeToo movement, which began with the calling out of sexual offenders in the field of journalism, literature and film, recent revelations of the same behaviour in the art and design community have now unfolded.

Sanket Avalani, co-founder of Taxi Fabric, a venture that transforms the insides of Mumbai taxis, was outed on social media by Swapna Nair, a Mumbai-based creative entrepreneur, who has worked with him in the past, for unwanted sexual advances. Since then, many women have spoken up with similar allegations. Artist Sameer Kulavoor, who was a part of Taxi Fabric, has now discontinued his association with the organisation.

He said, "In light of the disturbing and shocking recent sexual harassment allegations against Sanket Avlani, I have decided to end all associations with TaxiFabric. They will no longer be selling my work, and I will not be a part of any of their future endeavours. In solidarity and support of those who have been wronged."
Dalreen Ramos

Also Read: #MeToo: 4 women put Bollywood's top talent manager under scanner

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