Bombay HC defers Vikas Bahl’s defamation plea to mid-Nov; woman reaffirms claims in affidavit

The former Phantom Films crew member who had accused director Vikas Bahl of sexual harassment reaffirmed her claims in an affidavit presented to the Bombay High Court.

Affirming that she stands by her allegations, despite not pursuing the matter legally, the woman - who worked on the production house's 'Bombay Velvet' - said that"it would add insult to injury if my word is disbelieved", as reported by Mumbai Mirror.




The court was listening to the proceedings of the Rs 10 crore defamation case filed by Bahl against his former partners Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane.

The court has not issued any order yet, and will hear the case in detail in November post-Diwali.


Yesterday, the victim had presented a statement to the court in which she said that she had decided not to legally pursue the case, although she stood behind her accusations. The HC had adjourned the hearing to October 25, after Madhu Mantena's advocate, Vineet Naik, said that the Phantom Films' fourth partner was not present when Bahl had confessed to Kashyap. Kashyap's lawyer claimed that both he and Mantena were present when Bahl confessed.

The allegations against Bahl came out on October 6, just hours after the film-makers had announced the dissolution of their production house Phantom Films. Kashyap and Motwane had substantiated the claims by the former employee against Bahl, following which the 'Queen' director filed a defamation suit against the two.