#MeToo: Journalist Gaurav Sawant accused of sexual harassment, says will sue

November 13, 2018:

Former health & science editor at The Hindu, Vidya Krishnan, has shared her story of how she was harassed by a fellow journalist (claimed to be Gaurav Sawant) while travelling for a work assignment.

Krishnan discloses that she was assaulted by Gaurav Sawant, executive editor at India Today, while on a trip to Beas in 2003 when she was working for The Pioneer &  Sawant was a popular reporter who used to write about Indian Army.

Krishnan said that she was assigned to cover a routine reporting trip organised by the Indian Army’s representatives to Beas where she met Sawant.

Krishnan who was an amateur reporter, knew about Sawant's work in the industry & his popularity that he gained after covering the Kargil war.

They were travelling in an army jeep with personnel when Sawant started to touch her inappropriately. The same day, once they got back to their accommodation, he texted her making his intentions clear about being in an intimate situation with him, later entered Krishnan's room unwelcomed & forced her to touch him inappropriately but left the room when Krishnan's resistance got louder.

Krishnan recalled,“I think there was some sense of decency where he was like, ‘Okay, I can’t rape her,’ so he went away at that point."

Explaining in detail the reasons why she did not do anything about it then, she said, “I acted with the maturity of a twenty-year-old, who tends to blame themselves rather than look at a 360-degree view of how adults & bosses & people in authority have to be questioned."

Krishnan explained, “I am not doing it because I want something done to Sawant. I have literally nothing to gain out of this. There are people who desperately need those jobs & are ambitious & talented & want to prove themselves enough, and so badly that they can look at something so grave & they can say, ‘Okay, I can look past this just so I can have my career'.This should not weigh as one of those issues. It should not have to be this difficult. This is entirely about me being at peace with myself."

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