Edison, NJ just can’t seem to get out of the news. Seems that filmi starlet Bipasha Basu was recently harrassed there this month by a couple of the organizers at Indian Business Association. And as any woman of my disposition a like-minded desi woman that doesn’t take crap lying down anymore, she made sure that she was not silenced.
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Girl Powered Bipasha Basu |
Bollywood star Bipasha Basu has publicly accused two organisers of an India Day parade at Edison Township, New Jersey, of harassing her physically and mentally. The movie star was scheduled to lead the parade — organised by the Indian Business Association — on Sunday, August 13, through Oak Tree Road, a centre of Indian businesses, as Grand Marshall.Before the parade… Bipasha appeared on stage. “I wanted to attend the parade, but I could not,” she said, adding that she was harassed physically and mentally in the car by two people who were taking her to the parade. [link]
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p>Girlfriend was angry, and partial footage of Basu on stage enraged into a girl power frenzy almost brought a tear to my eye. (The entire tirade was shown on Asian Variety Show this weekend, but I couldn’t find it online). Though the IBA said they were going to do an investigation, they are also doing what every good American does. Suing her.
Officials said the IBA, which instituted an inquiry into the allegations, will sue Basu for an undisclosed amount for violating the contract and making such an allegation. Though officials were not willing to talk till the inquiry was over, sources said it could sue her for $5 million. The legal action is expected to be initiated in a New Jersey court. [link][Bipasha] claimed she had received some bruises, which were photographed… [link]
Bipasha has not made a formal complaint to the organisers, he said. The alleged incident could cause a criminal investigation, but she has not lodged any complaint with the police either.[link]
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p>So IBA, your volunteer organizers pick up this woman, they don’t ‘molest’ her but she does get bruises from the incident, and your step is to sue her for breach of contract? Seriously? Too bad Basu doesn’t blog anymore, I’d love to hear what she has to say.
Edison as we know, has the fifth largest desi population, and the most significant concentration of desis in the U.S. With police brutality and now this incident, the desi community of Edison has their community organizing work cut out for them.
wicked article taz. good on Bipasha, i’ll be watching this story.
clarification: good on Bipasha for making a rukus and not going quietly. props + solidarity.
To continue further on what I said earlier:
Thats not correct. A claim of harassment by Ms Basu can constitute a defense to the non-performance of the contract. If IBA was indeed at fault, Ms. Basu will claim that the harassment/abuse by IBA henchmen discharged her obligations under the contract.
The issue would then be of whether harassment by IBA henchmen amounts to breach of a necessarry condition of the contract which allowed Ms Basu to repudiate the contract and consider the contract to be discharged. This would then become a delicious factual conflict! Of course the IBA would then argue that apart from the fact that the abuse by henchmen never took place, even if it did take place the abuse did not constitute a violation of a condition precedent . IBA would also argue that Ms Basu did not really repudiate the contract as she did show up and that they are suing for part non-performance of the contract. So the logic would be that if a condition precedent was violated, then Ms Basu should have never started the performance and the start of the performance either constituted a waiver of the violation of the condition precedent or it goes to show that she never was in fact abused as she started to perform. Ms Basu could also claim that because she was abused, it would not be equitable to hold her responsible for non part-performance.
suing her for “making such an allegation” suggests, to me, an intentional tort such as defamation, not breach of contract. it may be that there is still no comparative fault involved — though i think that in some jurisdictions, comparative fault does indeed apply to intentional torts in some respects. (especially if it becomes a three-ring circus involving the iba, ms. basu, and the henchmen, it is at least theoretically possible that comparative fault would be relevant.)
but again, the technical details of comparative fault weren’t my main point. (and again, i’m far removed from really being immersed in the details of these rules.) what i was trying to get at was more along the lines of “as long as they are suing her, let’s get it all on the legal table and sort all of it out, all at once.” (which also encompasses AMfD’s point about a potential defense to the breach of contract claim.)
This case could constitute a tort/contract law 1L question on the exam!
And an even more important point — that AMfD should not complain about me to the bar authorities. 😉
🙂
it may be that there is still no comparative fault involved — though i think that in some jurisdictions, comparative fault does indeed apply to intentional torts in some respects. (especially if it becomes a three-ring circus involving the iba, ms. basu, and the henchmen, it is at least theoretically possible that comparative fault would be relevant.)
So the question now is that if IBA sues for intentional or negligent defamation by Ms Basu, can Ms Basu assert the principles of comparative fault?
I am not sure how comparative fault could be attributed to IBA by Ms Basu unless the IBA somehow led Ms Basu to publish the defamation. The reason (cause) which led to the publishing of that defamation would constitute an absolute defence if the reason/cause did in fact exist (truth). I guess what I am saying is that the henchmen either did harass her or not. If they did, there would be no defamation as Ms Basu only published the truth. If they only partially harassed and Ms Basu exagerrated she still cant use comparative fault as she would be 100% liable for the publishing of the exagerrated portion of the abuse. So the only place where IBA could be at comparative fault is that if the IBA actually was negligent or bore responsibility in Ms Basu publishing the information. I am not sure how that could happen.
Wow. A lot of comments since I posed my question. Amardeep, Sriram, AMFD, Pied Piper – thanks for the legal scenarios and explanations. It’s eye-opening and fascinating to see/hear how the legal system works (or can work, depending on one’s point of view).
::thinking out aloud:: I wonder if Basu has a new film being released. Call me cynical, but whenever there’s an actor/ess in the news, I always wonder about publicity. On the other hand, Edison’s papers aren’t really going to provide her with the amount of publicity she would need. So, I’ll take that concern back. ::done with thinking aloud::
oh.. and sorry about the spellings. 🙁
sigh I don’t know what to think. Sure, there’s the whole legal issue, who can sue whom for what. What irks me is who did the molesting…
I know there are pervy uncles (and aunties) everywhere. But somehow Ms. Basu’s image in the whole explosion of “skin” and more in Bollywood these days I think is happening too much too fast for people to handle… it’s like the 60s and 70s are happening in India right now.
A commentor or two before has already said what’s a more commonplace belief than we all think – she was “asking” for it.
I mean really, are the perpetrators of the abuse really just a bunch of weirdos? I hate to say it, but I think a lot of not-so-obvious pervy uncles might try something similar… heck, even some guys born and brought up today would try something similar, just be more slick about it.
before you americans educate the dolts back in india who can’t handle the “fast changes”, remember this happened in the US, not india.
i agree with bytewords
Accidental Enlightenment (#59):
You may have this impression that it’s a commonplace belief, and maybe it’s true and maybe it’s not, but what exactly are we supposed to do with it? Just because more people think she was asking for it than we might want to admit doesn’t mean she was asking for it.
And this makes them what, exactly?
It doesn’t matter how “racy” Bipasha’s on-screen persona may be — absolutely nothing she says or does would ever justify physical and/or sexual harassment.
There is no such thing as “asking for it”.
This attitude of “blaming the victim”, which is unfortunately still prevalent in some South Asian quarters, needs to be buried once and for all.
And yes, the fact that this incident allegedly happened in the US means there is even less of an excuse for the “molesters” to justify their actions.
sorry, forgot the ” ” around “asking for it.” Those are important.
What if she was ugly, or fat, or really ugly and fat? Would anyone even care if she was sexually harrassed and ‘bruised’?
Maybe we all need to read some Atwood instead of Ms. Basu’s comments, or at least alongside them.
What if she was ugly, or fat, or really ugly and fat? Would anyone even care if she was sexually harrassed and ‘bruised’?
What?
love the atwood… remember the one in which the protagonist takes her hairy ball of a tumor/aborted fetus – slices it up into small niblets – rolls it up in expensive chocolate – packs it pretty and sends the box to her ex’s wedding as a gift.
**Is “physical abuse” codeword for sexual assault in the desi community? Alot of people here are assuming that she is molested – and that may be a correct assumption – just wonderin’ if it’s a norm to soften the blow with the word “physical abuse” instead of outright SEXUAL ABUSE. Hmmm…. **
Regardless, it’s no doubt that she needed some time to recover – I’m surprised that she still went out on stage – she must be a very strong woman. It’s sad that she may have felt obliged to the contract, even after the assault.
I also doubt it was a publicity stunt. Even here in North America, unfortunately, it’s still difficult to admit to being sexually abused or assaulted, much less the subcontinet. It’s not like a “publicigty stunt stolen sex tape” or something of the sort. I have to give her props for coming out, even if the details are vague. Something happened – that’s for sure.
They should sue for showing up looking like something other then that hot girl on screen. I guess not having your personal makeup artist putting 10 pounds of makeup on you makes you look like a normal human being.
I know this is a topic about sexual harassment, but when I see a movie star I just look at them and I dont really care about the words coming out of thier mouth.
Yes! Hairball. I’ve just got my hot (although not as hot as Ms. Basu’s and therefore less marketable) lil brown hands on the Penelopiad, her version of The Odyssey and The Tent, her new collection of mini essays…
AMFD: I did have a bitter disclaimer preceding my name…would need to read Lady Oracle to understand.
Am I the only one who thinks the woman in the video is NOT Bipasha. Look closely at the facial structure. This whole thing could turn out to be a farce.