#MeToo: Filmmaker accuses Suhel Seth of sexual assault, abuse of power

A film director and creative producer shared on Wednesday, October 10, a number of screenshots of a lengthy WhatsApp message sent to marketing consultant Suhel Seth recalling an experience she had "buried deeply".

The woman alleged that despite her persistent declining, Seth asked her to join him for an ice cream in Janpath.

"You used your power to take me home instead… You then threw yourself at me although I was clearly uncomfortable. You shoved your tongue in my throat even when I resisted — I whacked your head and said 'behave yourself'. You put your hand into my kurta and grabbed my breast," she alleged.

"You have abused your power for years on end. With what I've seen at a close range, if every woman you've ever laid hands on starts to speak up, I assure you, there will be at least 1,000 women who will say Suhel Seth? Yes. #MeToo. It ends here," she added.

She maintained that she had come out and spoken up not for want of publicity or money, but because she wanted a "closure". The screenshots were of a message sent directly to Seth in which the woman recalled her harrowing experience.

Suhel Seth, who had founded the consultancy firm Counselage India in 2002, is yet to issue a statement.

According to a report in the Indian Express, a 33-year-old journalist Mandakini Gahlot has also described an incident involving Seth at the 12th Regulators’ and Policymakers’ Retreat held at the Taj Fort Aguada Beach Resort and Taj Holiday Village in Goa from July 13-17, 2011.

The first account to come out against Seth was by a 26-year-old woman in Mumbai, and shared on Twitter by a friend. She said Seth had sent her inappropriate messages in August 2010 “when I was a 17-year-old girl”.