'I wanted my dignity back': Bhavana breaks silence on sexual assault
- By Web Desk -
- Mar 07, 2022
Famed South Indian actor Bhavana has ended silence on being sexually assaulted years ago, vows to give a strong fight to perpetrators.
During her recent outing, a popular name of South Indian film industry, actor Karthika Menon – commonly known by her stage name Bhavana, who has been a part of Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films, has spoken about her abduction and being targeted to sexual assault by a group of men in 2017.
In a live interview with a private YouTube channel, ‘Mojo Story’, Bhavana spoke about the trauma that she had been through for all these years, “My dignity has been shredded to a million pieces. It was sheer willpower that kept me going.”
Adding onto the support from her husband and relatives, the actor revealed to have ‘felt lonely’, each time a lawyer cross-examined her or while being interrogated by seven lawyers, having to prove her innocence.
Bhavana further revealed on being insulted by the perpetrators on social media after the traumatic incident, “It makes me very angry and very sad that perpetrators of sexual assault get rehabilitated,” she remarked.
She vowed to give a strong fight to abusers without thinking about the outcome.
Moreover, the actor confirmed to had lost acting jobs in the Malayalam film industry after the incident, except for a few names including directors like Aashiq Abu and Shaji Kailas, actor-director Prithviraj, and actor Jayasurya.
For those unversed, Bhavana was abducted in 2017 while returning home from a shoot location and was targeted to sexual assault by a gang of men.
The incident turned into a major controversy when one of the main accused of assault revealed the involvement of a popular Malayalam actor Dileep in the case, who was then arrested and is currently out on a bail.