On October 8, an Instagram handle called @herdsceneand was born with a post that said: "A male friend recounted standing next to two senior male artists who were checking a young woman out at the India Art Fair saying, "Man, she's so f******e". For the next few days, many such anonymous accounts of male artists and curators being sexual perpetrators were put up. It was on October 10, that they first took on the big names: "Don't we love institutions like @ serendipityartsfestival and @kochibiennale talking about 'no bullshit' codes of conduct? I mean the former has senior male curators who are known for inappropriate behaviour sexually and as powerplay treating assts [ assistants] like shit. The latter is founded by a bunch of predators. What a joke. Too little, too late." But then from October 14 onwards, they started naming perpetrators. From sculptor Valsan Koorma Kolleri to artist Jatin Das to Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) co-founder Riyas Komu to Sotheby's India managing director Gaurav Bhatia to the latest one: world-renowned artist Subodh Gupta. The account has multiple anonymous stories, with intricate details provided.

As the account founders say again and again on their feed; "This acct [account] and our survivors are not here to 'malign' or attack institutions but to hold individuals who abuse their positions in KMB and Sotheby's accountable, especially if it involves sexual abuse/ assault." In a time when the cry for victims exposing their identity seems to be gaining ground, we got in touch with the founders and posed some questions. Excerpts from a first-of-its-kind interview: