A young woman, who works as a choreographer in the Telugu film industry has filed a police complaint against popular choreographer Shaik Jani Basha, popularly known as Jani Master, accusing him of sexually assaulting her multiple times.
The complaint was registered on September 11 at the Raidurgam station, in a sealed cover as the survivor was a minor when the crime took place. Jani Master is also a member of Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party. Jani has choreographed several popular songs like ‘Butta Bomma’ starring Allu Arjun and Pooja Hegde, and ‘Arabic Kuthu’ starring Vijay and Pooja Hegde. Jani won the national award for Best Choreography for the song, ‘Megham Karukaatha’, in Thiruchitrambalam, which also stars Dhanush in August 2024.
Jani has been booked under sections 376 (2) (punishment for sexual assault), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code. The police have however not filed a case under the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Shikha Goel, the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) for the Women’s Safety Wing, told TNM that all relevant sections including POCSO would be added after seeking legal opinion.
In her complaint, the survivor said that she came to Hyderabad in 2017. Following her appearance in the popular dance reality show ‘Dhee’, she reportedly got a call from Jani’s team asking her to join their team as an assistant choreographer. A women’s organisation that helped the survivor file the complaint told TNM that she was 16 years old in 2019 when the assault first happened.
She joined as Jani’s assistant in 2019. And when they went for a shoot to Mumbai, Jani allegedly sexually assaulted her in a hotel. He further threatened her not to inform anyone failing which she would be fired and “wouldn’t be allowed to work in the industry anymore.”
The complainant said that she was sexually harassed and repeatedly assaulted in every shoot by Jani. If she refused to please him sexually, he would abuse and harass her “mentally and physically,” she alleged. On the shooting spot he would often touch her inappropriately in front of others.
On one occasion, she said that he slammed her head against the mirror for not budging. The survivor said that Jani resorted to stalking and vandalising her properties and further kept compelling her to marry him after converting her religion.
These instances prompted the survivor to seek work elsewhere. After this, Jani and his wife once visited her home, where the wife allegedly assaulted her.
The survivor said that on August 17, she was threatened by unknown individuals and again on August 28, she received a note which read “Congratulations on the song but be very careful.”
The survivor stated that she finally resorted to a police complaint as she was unable to get work in the industry anymore. There have been several demands from women in the Telugu industry that the report prepared by a government committee on working conditions of women in the industry be released. With the 21-year-old breaking the silence, it remains to be seen how the government will react.