Dear media, please stop dragging Mallika Dua into the #MeToo allegations against her father

More names tumbled out over the weekend as part of the #MeToo movement on Twitter. Prominent among these were journalist and author CP Surendran and Vinod Dua. Scroll had a detailed piece in which 11 women stated how Surendran, who was editor-in-chief at dna, sexually harassed them and how the management brushed the complaints aside.

Filmmaker Nishtha Jain put out a detailed account alleging that journalist Vinod Dua sexually harassed her in 1989. Dua is currently consulting editor with The Wire, which has put out a statement saying that it would look into the allegations. Meanwhile, Dua’s daughter, comic Mallika Dua, was unfairly dragged into this, with media outlets like dna using her as headline bait.

Dua put out a statement calling out people pressuring her to give a statement for the sake of entertainment.

Despite Mallika’s considered statement,  NDTV chose to go with a lopsided headline: “Stand By Him”: Daughter Mallika Defends Journalist Vinod Dua Over #MeToo. Ditto Zee News. Websites like News18 and Times of India have been more careful and fair about the whole issue. Seriously, is it too much to ask to leave Mallika out of this, especially given the fact that she has unequivocally expressed her solidarity with the #MeToo movement?