Weinstein’s Trial And Conviction -Shruti Mishra

Harvey Weinstein is an American former film producer; he had a very influential position in the most influential movie industry in the world by far viz. Hollywood. A huge independent filmmaker who used to ran a company called Miramax with his brother Bob Weinstein. He used to hold a very powerful position in the world’s topmost film industry and was very famous because of his groundbreaking work but this Hollywood mogul was undone and problematic with women. The #metoo movement sparked women who got sexually assaulted by him and raised their voice against him. Initially, before this he shut all the women who had audacity to accuse him of anything. In October 2017 when the #MeToo movement got popularized by the participation of a Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano. Milano posted that she is also a survivor of sexual harassment and also talked openly about this which magnified this movement to a good extent.#MeToo spread across the globe and since then it has proved a powerful force to raise awareness and help people to raise their voice. Many women came up regarding their sufferings from which the name of Harvey Weinstein came up. He was involved in harassing most of the women in the film industry which got disclosed when Milano opened up with her case, around 87 allegations were against him. Although, he denied all the allegations. The New York prosecutors whittled down the stories of two women and then they included the account of four other women at the trial. He was sentenced up to 23 years of imprisonment for the sexual act in the first degree and also convicted of rape in the third degree. Asia Argento, an Italian film actress and director said that Weinstein performed oral sex on her, a former aspiring actress named Lucia Evans stated that Weinstein raped her.

The other four women stated that they had experienced unwanted touching that could be classified as an assault. Being a powerful man of the Hollywood industry, he took advantage of his seniority upon the aspiring young female actors and tried to control them sexually. Slowly and gradually a complete wave of 87 women came forward with the complaints against him and a famous and powerful Hollywood producer with a mud on his mind got unmasked. After the verdict came up against him, he was handcuffed by the US police and remanded into custody on 11 march. His lawyer appealed for leniency towards his punishment as 67 years Weinstein was suffering through many serious health issues including heart problems and an unsuccessful back surgery. Considering his old age and his sickness the judge said he would ask to held Weinstein in the prison infirmary at the Rikers Island Jail. Weinstein’s case proved to be a symbolic case of the sexual harassment and assaulting the women and how a high profile, rich white man be convicted of sexual misconduct, but as per rule of law by prof. AV Dicey ‘nobody is above the law’ irrespective of his condition or rank.

REFERENCES

www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-41594672

www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/24/harvey-weinstein-guilty-trial-charges-verdict

www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/nyregion/harvey-weinstein-semtencing.amp.html

www.nytimes.com/2020/01/20/nyregion/harvey-weinstein-semtencing.amp.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey-Weinstein_sexual_abuse_cases