When the #MeToo movement hit India back in 2018, this journalist remembers meeting a senior male reporter in a government office. When we went in for a handshake, the reporter told us: “Abhi toh tum logo se haath milaane ko bhi dar lagta hai [We’re afraid of even a simple handshake].” This line might seem harmless to most, but for us, it was symptomatic of how men across industries looked at the movement: just women getting hysterical and making things difficult for them. Now, with explosive allegations of sexual misconduct emerging around independent journalist Omar Rashid, and Homebound cinematographer Pratik Shah back to back in the past month, it’s like #MeToo all over again.

Juhi Sharma. Pic/Instagram@juhifilms

Speaking to Sunday mid-day, several women say they believe that Rashid and Shah, just like other accused in the past, will simply go underground and emerge eventually with new projects and collaborations. In 2018, one of the first #MeToo cases in India was based on actor Tanushree Dutta’s allegations against fellow actor Nana Patekar. Patekar — who was given a clean chit in court; the verdict was contested by Dutta — is in the news again with his new film Housefull 5 having just opened at theatres this weekend. The accusation doesn’t seem to have slowed down his career, nor that of journalist and former minister MJ Akbar, who was accused in another key #MeToo case. Akbar, too, has been in the news recently with his inclusion in the all-party delegation for the global outreach for Operation Sindoor.