Harvey Weinstein: What the media mogul’s retrial could mean for the Me Too movement

Harvey Weinstein, once a titan of Hollywood’s media landscape, is set to face retrial for rape and sexual assault in November after his conviction was overturned in April. According to the bench that reversed the decision, the judge who conducted the initial trial erred in admitting the testimonies of three additional witnesses: women who had not made formal complaints against Weinstein but were allowed to depose in court that he had sexually assaulted them.

The revelations against Weinstein in 2017 had sparked the global MeToo movement of solidarity among victims and survivors of sexual abuse. At least 87 women, including veteran actors, accused Weinstein of a spectrum of misconduct, ranging from inappropriate advances to assault and rape. In India too, a parallel movement emerged in the film industry and other sectors, including the media.

In 2020, a New York trial court convicted Weinstein of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape, sentencing him to 23 years in prison. But when the New York Court of Appeals overturned the verdict in April, it missed a chance to lay down a framework on the legal value of the accounts of sexual abuse by witnesses who had not sought recourse within the framework of the law.

Weinstein’s case raises...

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