B'wood celebs sign letter to slam Rhea's media witch-hunt

Mumbai: Actor Sonam Kapoor, filmmakers Anurag Kashyap and Mira Nair are among over two thousand people who signed an open letter condemning the media's witch-hunt of Rhea Chakraborty in the coverage of Sushant Singh Rajput's death investigation.

Film personalities including Frieda Pinto, Zoya Akhtar, Farhan Akhtar, Mini Mathur, Dia Mirza, Kubbra Sait and others also signed the letter that asked the media to hunt news and not women.

Chakraborty was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with drugs-related allegations in the death case of Rajput. The 34-year-old actor was found dead at his Bandra residence on June 14.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the NCB is probing the drug case, in which 18 people including Rhea, her brother Showik Chakraborty, Rajput's manager Samuel Miranda, domestic help Dipesh Sawant and others were also arrested.

The open letter, which was addressed to the dear news media of India, was published on a blog called 'Feminist Voices' and it got over 2,500 signatories from all walks of life.

"Dear news media of India. We are worried about you. Are you feeling ok? Because, as we watch your witch-hunt of Rhea Chakraborty, we cannot understand why you have abandoned every professional ethic of journalism, every tenet of human decency and dignity and chosen instead to physically assault a young woman with your camera crews, endlessly violate her privacy and work overtime on false accusations and moralistic innuendo for a drama of 'Rhea ko phasao', the letter read.

The letter further called out the media for being obsessed with creating the narrative of a young woman as a morally dubious character because she speaks up for herself instead of acting like a damsel in distress.

It also urged the media to show the same kindness and respect to the 'Jalebi' star that it had shown to Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt.