'Made In India' singer Alisha Chinai - who had herself accused Anu Malik back in the 1990s - recently voiced her support for all the women who have come out against him. “Every word said and written about Anu Malik is true. I stand by all the women who have finally spoken up. May they find peace and closure in their lives,” Alisha told Deccan Chronicle.
Alisha had accused Malik of molestation in the ’90s. She also dragged him to court. However, the matter was settled a few years later and they reconciled as co-judges on Indian Idol.
“When I sued (Anu) Malik, I fought it alone. It was an unprecedented landmark verdict and a restraining order was passed against him. The man has repeatedly begged for my forgiveness. I have chosen to forgive him and moved on,” Alisha added.
Alisha went on to claim that Malik is a habitual predator, who abuses girls at his home in the presence of his wife and daughters. “Shweta Pandit, who disclosed her horrific experience with Malik, is the niece of composer duo Jatin-Lalit. Malik has two daughters and all these years he has been preying on girls his daughters’ age. Many of them were attacked in his house with his wife and daughters present,” she said.
Alisha also said that the industry has always been well-aware of his behaviour but chose to turn a blind eye to it.
“Producers and filmmakers like Sajid Nadiadwala, Sajid Khan, JP Dutta, Gulzar and Rakeysh Mehra continued to work repeatedly with Malik, in spite of his reputation. Some of them must have definitely known about his reputation as the entire film industry, including his own nephews, composer Amaal Mallik, and singer Armaan Malik talk about it. Yet they turned a blind eye to his ugly behaviour,” she said.
Sona Mohapatra was the first one to call out Anu Malik in the open. She had called him a 'serial predator'. This was followed by Shweta Pandit's account - in which she accused the composer-singer of harassing her at the age of 15. After this, several anonymous women came forward with their stories. Recently, singer Caralisa Monteiro also levelled sexual harassment charges against him.
On Sunday, Malik stepped down as judge for the singing reality show 'Indian Idol'. Sony Entertainment Television released an official statement saying that -‘Anu Mallik is no longer a part of the Indian Idol jury panel. The show will continue according to its planned schedule and we will invite some of the biggest names in Indian music as guests to join Vishal Dadlani and Neha Kakkar to judge the extraordinary talent of Indian Idol season 10.’
Denying all claims, Anu Malik’s lawyer had said in a statement, “The allegations made against my client are emphatically denied as completely false and baseless. My client respects the #metoo movement but to use this movement to start a character assassination mission is obnoxious.”
