Senior Journalist From Goa Booked For Sexual Harassment

Panaji: The women's police station, Panaji has registered a case of sexual harassment against senior journalist  Rupesh Samant, based on a complaint filed by two women victims.

Samant is currently the bureau chief of a national news agency and also a part-time anchor in a local news channel. 

According to the complaints filed by two victims on Thursday night, Samant has been accused of molestation, sexually coloured remarks and also seeking sexual favours. The complainants have also stated that the accused was allegedly sending explicit sexually suggestive messages on social media applications. 

Both the complainants had earlier worked with Samant, in the local channel network. They stated that they were constantly subjected to physical contact and sexual advances by the accused.

The police have registered the offence under section 354 and 354 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), according to SP Karthik Kashyap.

The police on Friday had issued summon to Samant, however, sources from police revealed that he did not receive the summon as he was not available at his Altinho residence and office. Samant is expected to visit women's police station at Panaji on Saturday. 

Reacting on the incident, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday said, “Since the complaint has been registered, we will take the matter very seriously. I have been saying time and again that law is equal to all and therefore no one will be spared or will be criminalised for no reason.” 

Meanwhile, the Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) has urged the Goa Police to seriously investigate and expedite the probe into the complaint of sexual harassment. The Union has also assured to support all the victims of sexual harassment in taking the case to logical solution and has appealed to them to come forward and file their complaints. 

Earlier, this month the executive committee of the GUJ had taken cognisance of the allegations of sexual harassment against young vulnerable journalists at their place after Whatsapp messages were being circulated within media and also on social media. 

GUJ, has already sent notices to all media houses directing them to set up an 'Internal Complaints Committee' as mandated under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act. GUJ has also set up a sub-committee headed by its president Sadguru Patil to facilitate complaints of sexual harassment. 

MOVIES MAKE US THINK IRRATIONALLY?

With the rise of Digital Media people are highly dependent on computers and television as sources of information. Films are playing a major role in influencing peoples’ minds positively as well as negatively. Films are doing everything they can to entertain the public.
For now, let’s talk about how we weren’t supposed to be alive. YES, I am talking about the movie '2012'.
One of the controversies that shocked people in 2012 was the prediction of the end of the world. According to history the Mayans, a Mesoamerican civilisation, predicted the world would end on 23rd December 2012. The Mayans, despite being credited for their achievements in mathematics and astronomy had their predictions proved wrong as we have continued with our lives and just celebrated a joyous 2015. The end of the world was indeed a hot topic in the film industry with the release of Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster 2012 which just aggravated the public about the whole issue of the world’s end.
Movies have tried to incorporate the theme of superstitions and mythology to make their ideas more interesting but usually end up reinforcing such beliefs. While the educated few would watch these movies purely for entertainment purposes or as a break from the regular clichéd romantic dramas, we do have a large section of people that are highly influenced by such movies.
The irrational belief of a black cat crossing their path or sneezing an odd number of times would leave them shivering waiting for bad luck to strike. One of such movies Drag me to hell by Sam Raimi, was about a young woman who was cursed by on old lady who supposedly unleashed an angry demon to take possession of the young woman’s soul and thus “drag her to hell.”
The bollywood industry came up with movies like Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om, Amol Palekar’s Paheli and Rakesh Roshan’s Karan Arjun that reflected the concept of re-birth. On the other hand we have movies like Umesh Shukla’s Oh My God that have challenged people’s views and questioned their blind faith. It covered the customs and traditions followed blindly and how the religious heads just manipulate the minds of the devotees. Though it didn’t have a large participating audience but it influenced a lot of minds to think rationally.
“If you are watching these movies for entertainment then its fine, but for learning process it’s not good. Movies should have some scientific facts to back it up. We should have a sensor board and movies that are based completely on blind faith should be stopped,” says RJ Shakuntala Bharne from All India Radio.
Sandeep Kamble, manager-film production, says, “Earlier movies were made to convey messages and people were able to relate better, but now movies are more commercial, and youngsters don’t believe in it unless they experience it themselves.” He further adds that it also depends on our audience because a large number of people in India still believe in superstition and follow it blindly.