Payal Ghosh hit out at those questioning her allegations of sexual assault against Anurag Kashyap. “People blame women for everything and post smash the patriarchy. It’s time to stand with the women. Let them be heard. A voice suppressed is a generation of women oppressed. It’s 2020. Come on, India! #MeToo,” she wrote on Twitter.

In another tweet, Payal criticised those who feel that she is taking advantage of the Me Too movement, and questioned if they would feel the same if the women in their family were violated. “People who are saying that it’s for politics and that I am misusing the situation. Imagine ( god forbid) your sister or daughter in my position, it can even be the mother.. and then let’s talk. You would go to war against such men. Isn’t it? PERIOD!!,” she wrote.

Payal has alleged that Anurag ‘forced himself on (her)’ during a professional meeting a few years ago. She told ANI that she will file an FIR against him at Oshiwara police station by Monday evening. She also said that her advocate Nitin Satpute will write to Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and seek security as there is a threat to her life.

Anurag, meanwhile, has denied the allegations and called them ‘fictitious’. His lawyer, Priyanka Khimani, said in a statement, “My client, Anurag Kashyap, has been deeply pained by the false allegations of sexual misconduct that have recently surfaced against him. These allegations are completely false, malicious and dishonest.”

“It is sad that a social movement as important as the #metoo movement has been co-opted by vested interests and reduced to a mere tool for character assassination. Fictitious allegations of this nature seriously undermine the movement and seek to unconscionably trade upon the pain and trauma of actual victims of sexual harassment and abuse. My client has been advised about his rights and remedies in law and intends to pursue them to the fullest extent,” the statement added.

Also read | Anurag Kashyap’s ex-wife Kalki Koechlin slams sexual assault claims against him: ‘You stood up for my integrity even after divorce’

Several Bollywood celebrities came out in support of Anurag, including his ex-wife Kalki Koechlin. She vouched for the fact that he fights for the integrity of women in the professional and personal space. “This strange time where everyone gets to abuse one another and make false claims without any repercussions is a dangerous and repulsive one. It is destroying families, friends and countries,” she added.