Dr. Swapna Patker, a renowned psychologist and producer of Marathi film Balkadu (biopic of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray), has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that she is being harassed, tortured and abused by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut since the past eight years. She has said that she used to write columns for Sena mouthpiece Saamna from 2009 to 2014 but when she decided to leave the job, Raut, who is the editor of Saamna, did not like her decision and began to heckle and harass her.
Dr. Patker has acused Sanjay Raut and his men of threatening her family and friends and verbally abusing her and also inundating her phone with vulgar video calls. She has also said that false cases were filed against her. She has lamented that no action has been taken all these years by the police, ex-home minister of Maharashtra, Anil Deshmukh, NCP leader Supriya Sule or by Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. According to her, she was also physically attacked in 2013. After drawing a blank from the police, National Commission for Women and National Human Rights Commission, Dr. Patker has now finally filed a writ petition in the Bombay high court.