Reacting to the sexual harassment allegations against him, lyricist Vairamuthu said that he was ready to go to court to prove his innocence. In a short video released on Sunday morning, the lyricist said that he spent much of the past week in consultation with senior lawyers over the accusations that had been levelled against him.
“I have been compiling irrefutable and unshakeable evidence of my innocence. I have consulted many senior lawyers about this. All the accusations against me are completely false. If those who made the accusations believe them to be true, then they can file a case against me in civil court,” he said in the video.
Vairamuthu went on to say that he did not want the public to judge whether he was a good man or a bad one. “Let the court decide on my innocence. I bow down to the power of the court and am sure that it will bring me justice.”
A spokesperson verified that the video in which Vairamuthu can be seen making these statements were true. “We have spent the last week talking to many leading people from the writing world, the film industry as well as legal experts. We have a watertight case. We don’t think that baseless allegations like these will hold up in court.”
Earlier this month, Vairamuthu tweeted his denial of these allegations. He posted:
அறியப்பட்டவர்கள் மீது அவதூறு பரப்பும் அநாகரிகம் நாடெங்கும் இப்போது நாகரிகமாகி வருகிறது. அண்மைக்காலமாக நான் தொடர்ச்சியாக அவமானப்படுத்தப்பட்டு வருகிறேன்; அவற்றுள் இதுவும் ஒன்று. உண்மைக்குப் புறம்பான எதையும் நான் பொருட்படுத்துவதில்லை; உண்மையைக் காலம் சொல்லும்.
— வைரமுத்து (@vairamuthu) October 10, 2018
The prolific lyricist was the first high-profile celebrity from South India to be named in the #MeToo campaign. He was accused by several women, including singer Chinmayi Sripada, of sexual harassment. Chinmayi first tweeted about him, without mentioning his name as part of her #MeToo thread. Barring a few members of the film industry such as Siddharth and Samantha Akkineni, Chinmayi has not received much support from the film industry after she went public with her allegations. On Saturday, director-politician Seeman told the media that Chinmayi was being used by BJP and RSS to malign Vairamuthu. “She is talking about events that allegedly happened a decade ago. Why did she continue to interact with him and talk so glowingly about him for the longest time after this? I don’t find her accusations credible,” said the politician-filmmaker.
