Weeks after his controversial comment about molesting and groping women on buses when he was young, actor Saravanan was eliminated from the Bigg Boss Tamil 3 house.
The elimination came at the end of Monday’s episode as Saravanan was called to the Confession room in the house by Bigg Boss. “Since we had to pay attention to Meera-Cheran issue last week, it was not possible to consider the comment you made on national television at that point in time. Though you had apologized in the episode on July 29, the Bigg Boss team has decided not to take this incident lightly,” Bigg Boss told Saravanan on Monday. Adding that the team will not accept any wrong approach when it comes to misbehavior with women, the voice said, “Crores of families in Tamil Nadu and outside are watching this programme. The message we want to send across is that though the incidents happened in the past, we strictly condemn it. Hence it has been decided that you shall not continue in this show. Saravanan, you are evicted from the Bigg Boss house.”
Bigg Boss 3 kicked off controversy a few weeks ago when Saravanan admitted to molesting and groping women on buses in an episode of Bigg Boss Tamil, while Kamal Hassan was discussing an issue between director Cheran and Meera Mithun. In that episode, Kamal Haasan was explaining various difficulties faced by women while traveling on buses as they get molested by men. Saravanan interrupted saying he has done it. "It was long back, when I was in college," Saravanan justified while Haasan laughed over the matter and audience cheered. In the following week, Kamal Haasan and the Bigg Boss production team came under massive heat for normalizing molestation and not condemning it despite being a crime.
Singer Chinmayi took to Twitter and condemned the action. She tweeted saying, "A Tamil channel aired a man proudly proclaiming he used the Public Bus Transport system to molest/grope women - to cheers from the audience. And this is a joke. To the audience. To the women clapping. To the molester. Damn."
A Tamil channel aired a man proudly proclaiming he used the Public Bus Transport system to molest/grope women - to cheers from the audience.
— Chinmayi Sripaada (@Chinmayi) July 27, 2019
And this is a joke. To the audience. To the women clapping. To the molester.
Damn. https://t.co/kaL7PMDw4u
On the next episode, Saravanan was called to the confession room and was asked to tender unconditional apology for his opinion. His eviction has garnered mixed responses on social media. While many lauded Star Vijay television's decision to evict him, some of them expressed surprise and shock at the call.
#Saravanan's exit was shocking but necessary.
— cosmic_cookiee (@CookieeCosmic) August 6, 2019
Sends out a strong message to society.
Molestation is never okay & never funny. It has to be condemned. Especially if the perpetrator, at 52, thinks it is something he can share out loudly in a public platform. #BiggBossTamil3
Ppl supporting molestor #saravanan, Just STFU. Victims go through life long mental health issues due to sexual molestations. He jus got terminated from a game show. Your sympathies r appalling n insulting to real victims of abuse. Don't be morons. Yuck. Disgusting #BiggBossTamil3
— விக்டர் | Victor (@VictorKAlfred) August 5, 2019
This is BS!
— Truth Warrior (@Senthur13546664) August 5, 2019
Not a fan of #Saravanan, but all he did was claiming things he done in the past
4 that he apologised & it shld have ended there
2 evict him after 2 weeks of this incident is ridiculous
It only encourages offenders 2 b silent & deny any involvmnt#BiggBossTamil3
Saravanan thus becomes the sixth housemate to be evicted from the show. So far, Mohan Vaidya, Fathima Babu, Meera Mithun, Vanitha Vijayakumar and Reshma Pasupuleti have been evicted and they are no longer a part of the show. The show launched with 16 participants and now there are 10 participants in the house.
(With inputs from Digital Native)