#MeToo: Ira Trivedi sues Chetan Bhagat for defamation

Writer and yoga exponent Ira Trivedi, who recently narrated her own #MeToo experience in a column in the Outlook magazine, accusing Chetan Bhagat of sexual misconduct, has slapped a legal notice on the Half Girlfriend writer for a range of misdemeanours, including defamation of character.


Bhagat on 15 October put up a screenshot of a mail Trivedi wrote to him in 2013 to counter her claim that he tried to forcibly kiss her in his room after inviting her to tea at the India International Centre.


Trivedi signed off with the word "kiss' which Bhagat used to pose the question "who kissed whom' to his 12.5 million Twitter users -- an action that Trivedi said has caused her enormous mental trauma.


To defend himself, the 44-year-old author had shared a screenshot of a 'self-explanatory' mail which apparently Trivedi sent to him in 2013. "So who wanted to kiss whom?", wrote Bhagat, adding, "@iratrivedi's self-explanatory email from 2013 to me, especially last line, easily shows her claims from 2010 are false, and she knows this too. This mental harassment of me and my family has to stop. Please don't harm a movement with #fakecharges #harassed".


Apart from a public apology, Trivedi has also demanded the removal of the defamatory statements made on social media.


Image: Ira Trivedi. Courtesy: @iratrivedi