Sarja has harassed four other women: Sruthi Hariharan

Team Udayavani, Oct 22, 2018, 12:10 PM IST

Bengaluru: Sruthi Hariharan on Saturday said that, Actor Arjun Sarja has sexually harassed four more women from the film industry.

Addressing the media, Sruthi said that once she openly spoke about her experience, four women also expressed similar experiences but they remained anonymous. “I wish they come out in the open,” she said. 

She said, I have worked with Sandalwood superstars such as Darshan and Sudeep but have never experienced any such experiences. Only Arjun Sarja has misbehaved with me. I will fight against this legally, whenever time permits, I will give those details.” 

Sruthi recieved support from many including actor Prakash Rai. 

Rai wrote on Facebook: “Sruthi Hariharan is indeed a talented actress in Sandalwood. Similarly, we shall not forget that senior actor Arjun Sarja is also our pride. But in the wake of Sruthi’s allegation, all of us need to understand the trauma that this woman has undergone. Even though Arjun has denied the charges, he must apologize to her for hurting her on that day.” 

Actress Shraddha Srinath tweeted, “Sruthi and Taapsee are my heroes of today.” Sruthi also got support from actresses Neethu Shetty and Ragini Dwivedi.  

The Film Industry for Equality and Rights (FIRE) has called on other women to speak up against sexual harassment. The organisation’s chairperson, Kavitha Lankesh, and its secretary Chetan Kumar promised to support all such women.  

However Sarja’s daughter Aishwarya slammed the allegations saying its “disturbing and false”.