#MeToo India: Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao step away from a film over allegations of sexual misconduct

MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao say their production house strongly condemns acts of sexual harassment and equally condemn false accusations in this regard.

“As creative people, we have been committed to foregrounding and finding solutions to social issues and at Aamir Khan Productions, we have always had a zero tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct and predatory behavior of any kind,” Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Roa said in a joint media statement.

“We strongly condemn any act of sexual harassment and equally we condemn any and all false accusations in such cases,” they said.

“Two weeks ago, when traumatic #MeToo stories began emerging, it was brought to our attention that someone we were about to begin work with has been accused of sexual misconduct. Upon enquiry we found that this particular case is subjudice and that the legal process is motion,” according to the statement.

“We are not an investigative agency, nor are we in any position to pass judgment on anyone that is for the people and judiciary to do. So without casting any aspersions on anyone involved in this case and without coming to any conclusions about these specific allegations, we have decided to step away from this film,” they maintained.

“We do not want to our action to reflect in any manner on the people involved in this case. We believe that this is an opportunity for the film industry to introspect and take concrete steps towards change.”

“For far too long women have faced the brunt of sexual exploitation. It has to stop. In this regard, we are committed to doing any and everything to make our film industry a safe and happy one to work in,” the duo added.