NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, DEC 19
Author-filmmaker Leena Manimekalai on Sunday said she was compelled to put it out publicly that she feels “unsafe” because of continued harassment by Tamil film director Susi Ganesan, whom she has accused of sexual misconduct in the past.
Manimekalai had accused Ganesan of sexual harassment during the #MeToo movement in 2018. Actor Amala Paul, who had worked with Ganesan in his 2017 crime thriller “Thiruttu Payale 2”, had supported Manimekalai and also levelled accusations against the filmmaker for subjecting her to “double-meaning talks, misrepresented offers and unchivalrous bodily contacts” the same year.
#MeToo #safetyforlife #Sexualharassment @chennaipolice_ @CMOTamilnadu pic.twitter.com/sI4LjqdTrC
— Leena Manimekalai (@LeenaManimekali) December 19, 2021
The amount of harassment, threats, insults that Leena has suffered is ridiculous. This should stop. NOW. No one should be forced to be this strong. The world needs her incredible strength and imagination for greater things. She deserves better. https://t.co/vycZhq2EE4
— Ranjani (tharkuri@mastodon.social | sigh!) (@_tharkuri) December 19, 2021
Manimekalai shared a statement on Twitter, writing how Ganesan had tried to silence every voice that came out in her support, including actor Siddharth. The filmmaker wrote that Ganesan has been targeting her, first through a defamation case and later with an attempt to impound her passport.
“My sexual harasser Susi Ganesan first threatened actor Siddharth for supporting my #metoo tweet, then both him and his wife threatened actor Amala Paul when she tweeted about his predatory behaviour. Then he filed a defamation case. And followed it up with the gross misuse of criminal justice system to impound my passport.
“Then he wrote to my Canadian University Administration and Professors to cancel my student visa status. Now he harasses journalists who cover the news and news editors who retweet my tweets (sic)” Manimekalai said in her statement.
The author, who has five published poetry anthologies under her name, said her family is concerned for her safety, fearing that Ganesan might harm her “physically”.
“My mother frantically calls me every hour, being scared that he can harm me physically as all his tools are running out. I am feeling very unsafe and If something untoward happens to me, I declare here in open that it will be his doing (sic)” she further said in the statement.
Ganesan had lodged a complaint against Manimekalai, alleging that her social media posts against him during the #MeToo movement had tarnished his image in the eyes of the general public and, thereby, she had committed an offence of defamation under IPC section 500. On December 3, however, the Madras High Court set aside the order of the Regional Passport Authority impounding Manimekalai’s passport and instructed that the travel documents be returned to her within a week.Justice M Dhandapani, who quashed the September 9 order this year, directed Manimekalai to appear before a lower court, where a defamation case was pending against her and co-operate to complete the trial.
