Sona Mohapatra was the first female singer who raised her voice against sexual harassment in the wake of MeToo movement. The Ambarsariya singer accused singer Kailash Kher and Anu Malik of sexual harassing her in her earlier days of music career.
Following Sona’s bravery, a lot of female singers like Shweta Pandit and Alisha Chinai came forward and shared their ordeal. While a lot of women are taking legal action against their accuser, at the launch of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2018, in which Sona is one of the judges, the singer was asked, if she is planning to take Anu and Kailash to the court. Sona who initially was hesitating to comment later said, “The truth is that the ongoing campaign has got the collective voice. This movement is happening all around the country. Along with the women, there are good men as well who want to see the change in the society. So, I am not the only one who is speaking about it. I think anyone, including the media, can file a complaint against these kinds of cases because nobody needs to be a bystander in this issue. A lot of people have found the courage to talk about their experience after I shared my story on social media.”
The singer further added, “I appreciate Zee TV and ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ who gave opportunity to outspoken individual like me to judge their show because when I shared my story, I didn’t think about how it will impact my singing or my musical career as it was for the bigger cause of a better future for the country. We all want that our country should move towards a positive direction and the garbage gets thrown out of the system and society. We are looking forward to such kind of evenings where we will have genuine celebrations and I think we are all counting on better days.”
Sona is married to Ram Sampath, a song composer and music director, whom she first met in 2002, while she was still working as a brand manager.