#MeToo: Top Bollywood body sends notices to Patekar, Bahl, Alok Nath

Mumbai: Taking a firm stand against cases of alleged sexual harassment in the film industry, the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has sent notices to Nana Patekar, Vikas Bahl and Alok Nath, who have been accused of indulging in such acts.

Going a step further, the Federation also announced to stop working with these people if they fail to respond to the notices.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday evening, Chief Advisor of FWICE Ashok Pandit said: "We have sent notices to Nana Patekar, Vikas Bahl and Alok Nath. They have to respond within a week. If they don't respond on time, the five lakh members of our federation in different bodies will stop working with them. In a way, they will be banned by the entertainment industry."

When asked about the content of notice, Pandit said it calls accused's version with regard to the charges slapped against them. "The idea is to hear both sides of the story and then take a legal recourse."

Some other members of the committee, including Ashok Dubey, B.N. Tiwari and Gangeshwar Shrivastav, were also present at the press conference.

While Nana Patekar is accused of sexually harassing actress Tanushree Dutta in 2008 on the sets of "Horn Ok Pleasss", actor Alok Nath allegedly made a sexual assault on writer-producer Vinta Nanda 19 years ago and director Vikas Bahl is alleged to have sexually harassed one of his female colleagues in 2015.

Taking a vow to support the #MeToo movement, Pandit said: "Our legal team is there to guide and support all the victims of such harassments and we urge them to file the complaint whenever they face such a situation. We want to create a fear among such sick-minded people so that they refrain from even thinking about conducting themselves in this manner with any other members of the fraternity.

"We will support the victim in their legal fight. We will take such case to the court to seek justice for every victim of the industry."