One of the stakeholders of the company on the condition of anonymity revealed to the daily asserting, “We (Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films) have taken a hard stand, based on what we have heard and investigated. I have known her for long. The decision needed to be taken because it was getting too much. I do feel a little victimised but I don’t know what to do about that. I am running the company.. Vikas being sacked will affect everyone,”Amidst all these fiasco, wonder where the alleged victims stand. Strange!Mumbai Mirror got the statement straight from the horse’s mouth who defended saying, “Nothing has happened. But it has to stop, and we will make sure it is done the right way.”However, Vikas Bahl, who spoke about women empowerment through his film ‘Queen’, has been accused of the sexual offence.Mumbai: Just when the police registered two FIRs against The Viral Fever (TVF) CEO Arunabh Kumar for molestation, another sexual harassment accusation has come up against another producer. Yes, I am friends with her, we have worked together and there is a production job we have done together…but if she is feeling like this I would like to sit across a table from her and talk to her.
This industry is filled with instances like this ‘aur yeh sadiyon se chalta aa raha hai’. He has behaved badly in the bathroom vanity Suppliers past as well but when this specific complaint came, we needed to act on it. He said, “They have been for a long time. She is not my employee. It is important to see this through. I have worked very hard to be the person I have become. There is no complaint to HR and there is no ‘Vishakha’ committee. I want to ask her if I have crossed a line, whether I have done anything to hurt her and if she feels that way I would like to apologise for it.According to Mumbai Mirror, a young woman working at Phantom Films had alleged that she was molested by Vikas Bahl, during a trip to Goa a few months ago and when the co-founders of Phantom, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena learnt about this matter, they escalated the seriousness of the issue to Reliance Entertainment, who has a 50-50 joint venture with Phantom. There are not one, two or three but multiple victims. According to him and several others close to the development, Vikas Bahl, who had already stopped attending office, was formally told on March 28 to step down from his position.”On the converse of Vikas’ statement, one of the other partners also revealed to the daily that there are lawyers crawling over the proceedings and the investigations are still on. I have heard about this particular lady you are speaking about and the Goa incident. It’s a scary place to be in because he’s my best friend. I was in the middle of a film shoot when I came to know about the first incident, and I had to stop my shoot and come to Mumbai… there is (after all) a young girl on whom an intoxicated Vikas forced himself while they were in Goa. For two-and-a-half years she has never made me feel as if she is uncomfortable (around me). The gravity of the issue resulted in the company setting up a committee as per the ‘Vishakha’ guidelines to hear the victim’s grievance.Producer/director Vikas Bahl, has been allegedly accused of molestation, by his female employees at Phantom Films
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