A former intern at a popular radio station has alleged that she was sexually assaulted at the workplace by RJ Anjaan in 2011. She was only 18 at the time.
Speaking exclusively to The Quint, the woman recalls, “I reported the incident of sexual assault to my boss, but to little avail. A top official of the channel met me, and he asked, “you were a fan, did you try to seduce him?” RJ Anjaan, who was then a City Programming Head at the station, but today works in Dubai, has categorically denied the allegations.
The woman, who was 18 at the time, says “I was a fan of RJ Anjaan to begin with, but during the course of my internship, I learnt the truth about him. It initially started with him holding my hand, or feeding me lunch, or being flirty with me and offering to take me on a date. I was pretty confused, but still maintained my distance from him.”
“What happened on the last day of my internship changed my life. It was a Saturday, and I went into office to collect my stuff and head back home. There were not many people there as it was a holiday. He was in the studio and he called me.”
“I literally ran out of the office and rushed home. I was traumatised. I cried for almost 3 days. Post that, I called a senior employee at the channel who sympathetically heard me out and then told me that close to 15 interns have faced this, but did not have the courage to go against Anjaan. He asked me whether I had the courage to do so. And I took some time to think over it, but then said yes.”
“There was a meeting with the channel’s National Programming Head Anil Machado a few weeks later. It was just him in the meeting with me. He started asking me ridiculous questions. ‘So now you have a problem if someone hugs you? In a field like media and journalism, all this is very normal. You shouldn’t take it very seriously. Why are you reporting this so late, are you making this up?’”
The Quint has reached out to both the radio station and Anil Machado for comment. This article will be updated as and when they respond.
As per the woman’s account, there was no meeting of an anti-sexual harassment committee. She wasn’t aware if the channel even had one.
The Quint reached out to the senior employee whom the woman had first complained to. He said that he could not recall or confirm any such incident with clarity since the allegations pertain to 2011.
RJ Anjaan, who worked as a Programming Head at the station from 2006 to 2012, spoke to The Quint, rubbishing the allegation of sexual assault. “I would ask the girl to come and tell me this to my face. She won't have the guts to do so because this is a lie.”
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The woman levelling the allegation explains why she didn’t pursue the matter any further then, and chose to rake it up only now. “I was 18 and stupid, and not very active online. But if the girl who spoke up against the TVF founder is reading this – you have inspired me to retell my six-year-old story. I plead all women who have faced similar experiences to speak up.“
Also Read: This Week’s TVF Episode: Why Women Don’t Report Sexual Harassment