Last Saturday, when I read Nicholas Kristof’s article, Dylan Farrow’s Story and Farrow’s own Open Letter, I processed the news carefully evaluating the veracity of Dylan Farrow’s claim that Woody Allen had sexually assaulted her when she was seven years old. It’s easy to fall prey to hearsay in a case involving a celebrity – with the media presenting multiple versions and gossip doing the rounds. Other than a statement released by the publicist calling the Open Letter “untrue and disgraceful”, Woody Allen hasn’t really responded.

The account left me deeply disturbed and empathetic for Dylan Farrow. And it was difficult to dismiss it as gossip or baseless allegations, since Nicholas Kristof is someone who has redefined journalism with his unconventional coverage of issues not so sexy when he penned Half The Sky about the developing world. Allen was mired in controversy for marrying the adopted daughter of his then long-term girlfriend, veteran Hollywood actor Mia Farrow. Farrow herself has created a bit of a stir by alluding to the fact that Woody and her son, Ronan, may actually be Frank Sinatra Jr’s son. One may say, morality and ethics are subjective and when two consensual adults  are involved, true that.

Now let’s look at Dylan. Her case is exactly opposite to the consensual sexual and now married relationship between Allen and his present wife. If what she claims is true, there was nothing consensual about inappropriately touching a child or conducting acts on or with her that were sexual in nature (she was just 7 and therefore, a minor). It was abuse and molestation at the very basic level. Period. I also remember meeting Ronan Farrow in 2012, then Special Adviser for Global Youth Issues to Secretary Clinton, at the Global Youth Conference by the World Bank in Washington D.C. It was a panel discussion on youth in the developing world and employability and clearly we had a winner in Ronan with his impeccable knowledge of youth affairs. Over the years Ronan along with his mother, Mia has maintained his stance of publicly disapproving Allen’s decision to marry Soon-Yi Previn and doesn’t leave any opportunity to make a dig at Allen including his now legendary tweet on Father’s Day in 2012. Allen’s adopted son and Dylan’s brother, Moses has come out in defense of Allen as did Robert B Weide in his Daily Beast article which made one view several gaping holes in Mia Farrow’s own credibility as an individual. There is the possibility that Dylan’s abuse might actually be a well-planned smear campaign by the Farrow family and that leaves one stumped.

Looking back at my experience of working with abused children ranging from survivors of incest, violent assault and criminal intimidation, I have noticed a pattern – a child almost never makes up a story of abuse. Do mind my use of the word, NEVER. He or she does not engage in sexual activity unless introduced externally. Think about it, puberty wouldn’t be a term in the English dictionary had we been sexual beings from our birth.

The larger issue in such high profile cases that gets sidelined is the matter of closure after abuse. It is impossible for a victim to get one when the tormentor is a public figure receiving honours and accolades. In Dylan’s Open Letter, seeing Allen with his latest award Dylan writes, “This time, I refuse to fall apart. For so long, Woody Allen’s acceptance silenced me. It felt like a personal rebuke, like the awards and accolades were a way to tell me to shut up and go away…. But others are still scared, vulnerable, and struggling for the courage to tell the truth. The message that Hollywood sends matters for them.”

I am a strict believer in the school of thought, art is for art’s sake for which I will dissociate a man’s personal character from his professional work and will perhaps continue watching Woody Allen create one masterpiece after another. However, in future, I will wonder if he has a twisted personality, a bit like Hugh Jackman’s character in Allen’s film, Scoop.

My focus is on the larger issue at hand – Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and how one should treat a survivor. Whether it is New York Times, Vanity Fair or the Daily Beast, all the articles which I have read so far are debating the credibility of Woody Allen versus Mia Farrow, CSA being a lost cause in the process. Instead of engaging in he said, she said, for all cases of CSA there remains the need for a proper investigation. If Dylan’s innocence was compromised, did she receive the psycho-social support that she needed? If Mia Farrow is a manipulative woman who in order to settle a score coached her daughter about a crime, then that will be a mockery of the plight of actual victims of CSA.