Hrithik v/s Kangana controversy: Yami Gautam writes an open letter

Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan are neck-deep in their controversy. What started off as an allegation on Kangana's behalf has now turned into a proper legal battle and is slowly turning into a gender war. Recently, actor-director Farhan Akhtar took to Facebook to post an open letter addressing the issue wherein he requested people not to take sides and to not have a narrow-minded point of view on the topic.

After Farhan, now actress Yami Gautam has come out and written an open letter concerning the issue. In her letter, Yami is seen requesting people to not give this a gender issue colour for this will do more harm than good. Here's what she worte:

"I am usually not very vocal on social media, but I am making an exception today, since as a woman, what I am seeing right now terrifies me. This is concerning the matter surrounding two of the biggest stars in our industry. I have, fortunately, had the opportunity to work with one of them. However, I am not writing this as a co-star or even as a friend. I am writing this as a woman and a concerned citizen of the country, and I will try to get my point across as succinctly and as objectively as possible.

I am no legal expert. And I am not privy to the details of the case. I know what has been reported in the media, and I am all for good, honest reporting. However, somehow, the tussle has turned into a gender war, with a certain faction of the society having already declared the man guilty. People have presumed that since he is a man, he must be the guilty party, since that is how it has always been. Men have oppressed women in one way or another for centuries, and it's being presumed that it is the same in this case, too.And that's dangerous. Whatever happened to innocent, until proven guilty? Whatever happened to letting the law take its own course? Yes, a lot of times, at least in this country, we have take to the streets to get justice. But that's not the case here. The police is investigating, and both the parties are privileged enough that they can represent themselves in court and fight this out legally. Sadly, our law and order is sort of classist, but let's not digress.

Here is why this vilification of a man based on make-believe evidence is dangerous. If the gender-card is allowed to take precedence over facts and objectivity, it will be a serious blow to the on-going efforts of getting women an equal standing with the opposite sex. If this baseless trial-by-media is allowed to continue, where one party has been presumed to be guilty, there is a good likelihood that people might lose faith in this equal-rights-for-all movement that has picked up momentum in India only in recent years.I am not exonerating anyone here. I am also not suggesting malice by any one party. All I am saying is, let's not make it a fight between genders. Let's keep it a fight between two people who may or may not have corresponded in the past. Let the facts be unearthed and until then, let's reserve our judgements.

Just because this is a fight between a man and a woman does not mean it has to be a fight between genders. Making everything a gender issue can easily distract us from addressing legit sexist issues that plague our society."

(Also read: Here's how Kangana Ranaut responded to Hrithik Roshan's allegations)

So, what did you think about Yami's take on this? Stay tuned for more updates.