Hope in UK

England had its #MeToo moment when a court recently dismissed the libel claim of actor Noel Clarke accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour against his junior colleagues and actors and held him guilty of the charges levelled against him.

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The case did not simply concern one offender as the powerful entertainment industry was put on the dock for its complicity of silence while the victims had moved from pillar to post till leading British daily “The Guardian” took up the matter. The verdict is also a triumph of investigative journalism in the UK, which sends a message of hope across the globe at a time when a large section of the media in different countries is kowtowing before the powers that be.

In fact, the judgement of Mrs Justice Steyn is about power and complicity as well as the failure to protect vulnerable people. In her verdict, she agreed with the justification of the campaign run by the daily to champion the cause of hapless victims. The reporters did a commendable job of piecing together the accounts of several victims taking utmost care to base their stories on authentic documents. The judge ruled that there were “strong grounds to believe that (Clarke) is a serial abuser of women.”