Bigg Boss 16: Theatre artiste Sangita Shilpa Anand explains why Sajid Khan must be shown the door

MUMBAI: Theatre artiste, model and regional Tv actor Sangita Shilpa Anand is the latest among several women to accuse Sajid Khan of molestation and sexual harassment.

Narrating the incident which happened to her nearly 16 years ago at a starred hotel at Juhu in suburban Mumbai, she said:  “The incident happened more than 16 years ago. This was somewhere during April-May of 2006. I met Sajid Khan at a film party. I do not remember exactly the place, because I am not from Mumbai, but this was at a 3 or 5 star hotel at Juhu in the suburbs of Mumbai,” she explained.

Narrating the incident further, Sangita Shilpa Anand said, “There was a film party and my friends were going. I was doing regional Tv serials in Madhya Pradesh and modeling print shoots as well as episodic serials in Mumbai at that time as I am based in North India and had come to Mumbai for a few days for a shoot. I used to shuttle between MP and Mumbai. My friends took me along for the party saying I should see how Mumbai’s film stars party. I was totally new at that time. Someone in my group introduced me to Sajid Khan at the party. I was wearing a slightly low-neck top and jeans. Sajid starred at my breasts for like 3-6 minutes and told the person who introduced me while pointing directly to my chest and my breasts, yeh toh itne choote hein, bade hone chaiye. Tab toh Bollywood mein kaam kar sakti hein yeh ladki. Everyone laughed and took it as a joke and said he was drunk. I remember these lines clearly. The friend who took me along, said this is how producers and directors joke at parties. One must not take it seriously my friend advised me, but while all my friends considered it a joke, for me these lines or words by director Sajid Khan have remained etched in my mind forever and still ring in my ears. I will not forgive him or forget the incident. It may be funny for the others and a way of joking or pulling one’s leg, but for a women – that too a fresher new to the city, it is definitely sexual harassment and must be reported,” Sangita Shilpa Anand told this reporter, adding that she silently cried the entire night after going back to her flat.

But she did not tell anyone as she was afraid her family would insist her on staying at home and giving up acting. “I had just started working and getting some small work. I did not want to end that. Had I to share the incident with my family at that time, they would have asked to me discontinue my acting and modeling and sit at home – something which I did not want to do,” Sangita Shilpa Anand explained, adding that today when she sees Sajid Khan in the Bigg Boss house, everyday she is reminded of that particular incident at a hotel in Juhu in Mumbai, 16 years ago and thinks of how criminals in the film industry go free.

In the past 15 years, actors, models and others like Saloni Chopra, Mandana Karimi, Aahana Kumra, Jiah Khan, Sherlyn Chopra, model Namrata Sharma Singh, Madhuri Sangita Patil, Rani Chatterjee, Sherlyn Chopra, Rachel White, Dimple Paul, Simran Suri, Journalist Karishma Upadhyay and many others have accused Sajid Khan of sexual harassment or molestation or both and Sherlyn Chopra even filed a police complaint against him.