Anu Malik steps down as Indian Idol judge amid #MeToo outrage

Composer Anu Malik has stepped down as a judge from the ongoing season of Indian Idol. Last month, singer Sona Mohapatra had criticized Sony TV for reinstating Anu as a judge despite multiple sexual misconduct allegations against the composer. Singer Neha Bhasin, too, had accused Anu of harassing her in the past.

As per reports, Anu has decided to take a voluntary ‘three-week break’ from the show, hours after The National Commission For Women sent a notice to Sony Entertainment Television over the matter.

Last year, during the #MeToo Movement in India, Anu was accused of sexual harassment and assault by multiple women. He was subsequently dropped as a judge from Indian Idol before being reinstated in the new season.

In a statement posted on social media last week, Anu had broken his silence on the allegations, calling them ‘false and unverified.’

“It has been over a year that I have been accused of something I haven’t done,” he wrote, “It’s a disgrace that at this age, at this stage in my life, I have to watch the most slanderous words and horrifying incidents being associated with my name. Why wasn’t this spoken before? Who do these allegations resurface only when I am back on television, which is currently my only source of livelihood? Being a father of two daughters, I can’t imagine committing that acts I am accused of, let alone do it.”

He also threatened to pursue legal recourse if the outrage persisted. “Fighting a battle on social media is an endless process, at the end of which nobody wins. If this keeps on continuing, I will have no option but to knock on the doors of the courts to safeguard myself.”