Samyuktha Hegde Drops Charges Against Kavitha Reddy, Keeping Her "Age In Mind"

Actor Samyuktha Hegde has withdrawn her complaint against politician Kavitha Reddy. Hegde had accused Reddy of assaulting and harassing her at a Bengaluru park for wearing a sports bra. On Tuesday, Bengaluru Police had arrested Reddy, who is Congress Spokesperson, and later released her on bail. While Reddy had offered an unconditional apology for her behaviour in a video on 7 September, according to Hegde, it was not "satisfactory or genuine".

In a statement that Hegde shared on Instagram, she thanked everyone who had supported her, writing, "I really really appreciate all the support I’ve been getting, all the love, all the posts, all the trolls, all the tweets that gave this voice an amplifier. You all have played such a major role in making this a nationwide impact, this is a feather on the cap for all of us as a society and I hope that the horrible incident of Friday results in wider awareness about how moral policing cannot be tolerated in our lovely cosmopolitan city or anywhere else."

Hegde also added that she didn't want the focus of this issue to be Reddy or her, or even the incident, "I hope this goes a small way in working on greater freedom for women every where around." Although Hegde did demand that action was taken against the people who intimidated her. "However, I want to be clear: I still hope that strong action is taken against Anil Reddy and the others with him, who threatened and abused us at the park and made us feel so helpless."

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Hi everyone. I really really appreciate all the support I’ve been getting, all the love, all the posts, all the trolls, all the tweets that gave this voice an amplifier. You all have played such a major role in making this a nationwide impact, this is a feather on the cap for all of us as a society and I hope that the horrible incident of Friday results in wider awareness about how moral policing cannot be tolerated in our lovely cosmopolitan city or anywhere else. Let’s be clear, Kavitha Reddy’s apology was not satisfactory or genuine, She had not taken down her posts or tweets for 16 hours after issuing a public apology which shows how casual she was about this apology and had clearly done this under pressure as it was affecting her public image and many of you have also pointed this out. However, I want the focus of this issue to not be on her or me or the incident, I hope this goes a small way in working on greater freedom for women every where around. I've consulted with my family and also keeping Kavitha Reddy’s age in mind, I am not interested and don't want to pusure my case against her and I have formally requested the police yesterday about the same . However, I want to be clear: I still hope that strong action is taken against Anil Reddy and the others with him, who threatened and abused us at the park and made us feel so helpless. NOBODY IN THE WORLD HAS A RIGHT TO MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE THAT AND IT WILL NOT BE TOLERATED ANYMORE Again I must express my love and gratitude for all the support from all of you, my legal team ( Arjun Rao and Maitreyi Bhat ), and specially want to mention 2 people who were there and available for me throughout all this. Shraddha for all the advice and mental support that you've given me and Pavan for just being there by my side. I love you and I couldn't have done this without you guys. Lastly but most importantly I want to thank my family for strongly standing with me, emotionally supporting me and letting me know that no matter what, they are with me and as a girl I think that's the most imporrant support. Regards, Samyuktha Hegde

A post shared by Samyuktha Hegde (@samyuktha_hegde) on Sep 8, 2020 at 6:10am PDT

Hegde, a 22-year old actor in the South Indian film industry, has been reportedly abused and assaulted for wearing a sports bra while working out in a Bengaluru park. Sharing videos from the incident on her Instagram profile, Hegde has alleged that Congress leader Kavitha Reddy "tried to hit" her.

Parts of the incident, which took place near Agara Lake in HSR Layout, have been recorded on live video by Hegde and posted on Instagram. In a video, Hegde says that she was practising hula hoops with her friends in the park, when "We were abused and ridiculed by Kavitha Reddy."

In her live, Hegde accused Reddy of saying, "Asshol*s, if you wear such clothes the next time and something happens to you, don’t come crying to anyone. This is what she told us." She even reportedly condemned the girls for "stripping in the public" and doing "cabaret dancing."

Also Read: Viral Video: Minor Girl Alleges UP Cop Asked Her To Dance Before Registering FIR

Samyuktha Hegde Posts Videos Of Being Moral Policed For Outfit

Hegde, who can be seen wearing a pullover, even took it off on camera to show the viewers her outfit - a sports bra. Breaking down in tears, she says, "This is so wrong. I had my pullover on. We came here and I removed it and did my warmup. We were just exercising with hoops and this woman (referring to Kavitha Reddy) came up to us and started saying that we were being indecent for wearing a sports bra in a public place."

Also Read: Slut Shaming And Victim Blaming Needs To Go, Says Social Media

She adds, "They tried to hit us, defame us and now we are being asked to apologise and leave instead of creating a scene here." Bangalore Mirror quoted Hegde as saying, "Despite being polite and trying to solve the problem, the lady hit my friend and used disparaging remarks about me and my friends."

In another series of videos and photos shared by Hegde, Reddy can indeed be seen lashing out at one of the girls. Watch the video here:

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Video 1 and 2, you can see the lady clearly (kavitha reddy) charging at my friend and attempting to hit her Video 3: after she tried to assault my friend, when we were waiting for the police to arrive some People in the park who knew her started supporting her and playing moral police and asking us if it is our culture to wear sports wear Video 4: this man in the red checkered shirt and about 10 men with her arrived right before the police did and started threatening us. His name is Anil, and you can clearly hear him threatening me. In my line of work even false news is enough to destroy my career and he threatened me exactly of that and the police stood there and just watched. This is when i decided to go live and have our side of the story put out there in the open After being in a democracy and following all the norms of social distancing, we were abused and ridiculed by Kavitha Reddy and the mob in Agara Lake for practicing our hoolahoop while wearing sportswear. Despite being polite and trying to solve the problem, the lady hit my friend and used disparaging remarks about me and my friends Was extremely disappointed with how the police who came to the location behaved , like nothing was wrong and spoke to her with respect while asked us to be quite. The cops stood there while her mob harassed us and even after requesting the police continuously, they decided to stand there and support this (proof on igtv) Yesterday was really hard and it was so disturbing to go through this When we went to the police station, everyone there already knew her and spoke to her nicely and saw us like we were wrong. The only police who spoke to us with some respect and told her she was wrong was the inspector is the hsr police station muni reddy, he asked us both to file our respective complaints and he left. We wrote the complaint and gave it to the police. The police present there refused to give us an acknowledgement for the same. Its not easy being strong around people who are trying to break you, and having to listen to so many people harass us for doing nothing. THIS IS JUST WRONG I request you all for your support 💛 @blrcitypolice #thisiswrong #punishkavithareddy

A post shared by Samyuktha Hegde (@samyuktha_hegde) on Sep 4, 2020 at 10:24pm PDT

Hegde Cites Threats And Police Inaction

 Hegde reportedly said, "This is just so wrong. When we were waiting for the police to arrive some people in the park who knew her started supporting her and playing moral police and asking us if it is our culture to wear sportswear." In the video also, a crowd of men satanding alongside Reddy can be seen.

"About ten men with her arrived right before the police did and started threatening us. They threatened to destroy our careers and the police stood there and just watched. This is when I decided to go live and have our side of the story put out there in the open."

Hegde has

on Instagram how she "Was extremely disappointed with how the police who came to the location behaved , like nothing was wrong and spoke to her with respect while asked us to be quite."

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Kavitha Reddy Responds To The Accusations

Hegde signed off on her Instagram post writing, "THIS IS JUST WRONG... I request you all for your support." A few members from the film industry have come forward in support of Hegde. Sharing the video, actor Sundeep Kishan wrote on Twitter, "This is so so so wrong..."

Meanwhile, video jockey Benafsha Soonawalla

on Instagram, "What!????? Sending you power my strong girl. This is atrocious."

Responding to the claims, Reddy took to Twitter to write, "I did not bother about Vikram Hegde trolls will I bother about Samyukta Hegde trolls... Aiyo when some CHEAP Publicity Actor does a Video it is clear that she is doing it for Publicity."

Image Credit: Samyuktha Hegde/IGTV