Jatin Das faces two more harassment charges

Guwahati: Days after two women  accused Padma Bhushan recipient painter Jatin Das of sexual harassment, two other women have raised similar charges against the artist.

Mr Das denied the allegations, saying he has nothing to do with them.

Assam’s entrepreneur-conservationist Nisha Bora was the first to level allegations against the painter, accusing Mr Das of sexually harassing her in the year 2004. Ms Bora who posted a detailed account of her harassment accused Mr Das of molesting her at his studio 14 years ago.

Garusha Katoch, was the second alleged victim of Das to share her story on Twitter. Ms Malvika Kundu on Thursday alleged that Das misbehaved with her also when she was 18 years old.

She accused Mr Das of “unnecessarily” touching her, calling her “baby” incessantly — even when she objected to his usage of that word — and standing “too close” when she worked for him.

“This all happened on the very first day of the job at his (Das’) home, which required cataloguing of his collection of books, she wrote. “He made me so uncomfortable that I hated the three days I lasted on this job,” she said.

Journalist Anushree Majumdar has also shared a horrifying experience when she was fresh out of college in 2006. She had gone to pick some paintings from his studio. She claims that Das offered her a job as his assistant, but then she got alarmed when he started asking her “strange questions” and insisted on her leaving the current job and start working for him.