Choreographer Ganesh Acharya secures bail in sexual harassment case

Choreographer-turned-actor Ganesh Acharya on Thursday granted bail in a sexual harassment case by the Mumbai magistrate court. The choreographer was booked on charges of stalking, voyeurism, and sexual harassment by the Oshiwara police station in 2020. The Dehati Disco actor appeared in court as summoned by the Andheri magistrate and filed for bail through his advocate. Metropolitan magistrate NV Bansal granted him a cash bail. He has never been arrested in the case filed against him by a former co-dancer back in 2020.

The complainant alleged that Acharya forced her to watch obscene videos whenever she would visit him at his office in 2009-10. She also alleged that he also passed lewd comments and did the same with other women as well. Further, the woman stated that he, along with two others, had assaulted her during a function of the Indian Film and Television Choreographers Association. After she did not entertain his sexual advances, he allegedly terminated her association’s membership and also used his clout in the industry to prevent her from getting work.

Based on the complaints, Ganesh was booked by Mumbai police under sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-C (watching, or capturing the image of a woman engaging in a private act), 354-D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code. The choreographer had gone on to deny all the allegations, calling them ‘baseless.’

Meanwhile, the 51-year-old started his career as an assistant to choreographer Kamalji in the early 1990s. For his work on the song Badi Mushkil from Lajja in 2001, he gained recognition and since then he has been ruling the industry as a choreographer. He turned director with Swami, which starred Manoj Bajpai and Juhi Chawla , and also started acting in a number of films, most recently in Dehati Disco.