Choreographer Ganesh Acharya charged with sexual harassment, stalking, police submit charge sheet

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Mumbai, April 01, 2022: The Mumbai Police have filed a charge sheet against well-known choreographer Ganesh Acharya. The ace choreographer was accused by one of his co-dancers in 2020 of sexual harassment and stalking. The police have filed a charge sheet in the same case. Oshiwara Police Officer Sandeep Shinde, who investigated the complaint, said that the charge sheet was recently filed in the concerned Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Andheri.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, Ganesh Acharya and his assistant have been charged under sections 354-a (sexual harassment), 354-c (voyeurism ), 354-d (stalking), 509 (insulting the modesty of any woman), 323 (causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention to commit an offence) of the Indian Penal Code.

According to the report, the 35-year-old co-dancer said that she was told by the police that a charge sheet has been filed. Ganesh Acharya has refused to comment on the matter. Many co-workers have accused Ganesh of sexual harassment in the past as well. Ganesh denied all the allegations and called them baseless.

When the Mumbai Police filed an FIR on the complaint of the co-dancer, Ganesh Acharya’s legal team said in February 2020 that they filed a defamation complaint against the co-dancer. In her complaint, the co-dancer alleged that Acharya started harassing her after she rejected his sexual advances. According to the woman, in May 2021, he allegedly told her that if she wanted to succeed, she would have to have sex with him. Her refusal resulted in the termination of her membership of the Indian Film and Television Choreographers Association, she said.

“The female assistants beat me up, abused me and defamed me after which I went to the police who refused to register a complaint and merely registered a non-cognisable case. Then I contacted a lawyer to take the matter further, said the woman.