#MeToo moment for India? Bollywood singer blasts music director as ‘ugly pervert’ in viral tweets

Bollywood star Neha Bhasin has lashed out against top music composer Anu Malik, alleging that she found herself in a "sticky situation" with him as a young artist and branding him an "ugly pervert" in a series of angry tweets.

Bhasin was responding to tweets posted by fellow singer Sona Mohapatra, who was complaining that Malik had been rehired by Sony TV as a judge on Indian Idol – after being fired over accusations of sexual assault, including by her, only a year ago.

The singer-songwriter blasted Malik as a "predator" and said she had "run away from his strange moves" when she was 21. "I didn't let myself get into a sticky situation beyond him lying on a sofa in front of me talking about my eyes in a studio," she said, adding that she had fled the uncomfortable situation with the “ugly pervert” by telling him that her mother was waiting for her.

Bhasin continued railing against “perverts” in the music industry, saying it was “not an easy place as a young girl alone away from family.”

Mohapatra accused Sony TV of counting on the "freebie PR" they would get from rehiring Malik. In an open letter to the company, posted online, she said that those who support and fight alongside Malik's accusers are on "the right side of history."

Actress Shweta Pandit has also accused Malik of misconduct, saying he'd promised to give her a song when she was 15, but only if she would give him a kiss. Recounting that story last year, the singer branded Malik a “pedophile.”

Malik denied the allegations last year through his lawyer, but has not yet responded to the latest accusations – and there’s no indication yet that he intends to step back from Indian Idol.

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