By PTI
KOZHIKODE: The members of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) on Sunday called on Kerala Women’s Commission chairperson P Satheedevi here and urged her to ensure justice for the survivor in the sexual assault case, involving Malayalam actor Dileep.
They also sought her intervention to make public the Hema committee report on the problems faced by women in film industry.
Later, Satheedevi told the reporters that the Commission will ensure that every movie production house has an internal complaints committee.
“All institutions should have an internal complaint committee, but production houses do not have one. The commission came to know that most of the production companies lack the basic awareness regarding such a committee,” she pointed out.
Satheedevi further said the internal complaint committee will instill confidence in young women who enter the film industry and the production houses have a responsibility to ensure their safety and security at work and “they are legally bound” to constitute such a panel.
WCC members Anjali Menon, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Padma Priya, Deedi Damodaran, Padmini and Sayanora met the Chairperson at the government guest house in Kozhikode.
Asked about the Hema committee, the chairperson said it was only a study committee and not a commission constituted under the Enquiry Commission Act and hence there was no need to place its report in the Assembly.
“However, legislation is required to regulate and monitor the activities that take place in the movie industry. We hope a law will be brought by the Cultural department in the state,” she said.
The Chairperson opined that the society should back the actor who faced sexual assault and condemned the social media slur faced by her.
Hema committee was formed in 2017 to study the problems faced by women in the film industry. The panel had recently submitted its report to the government after recording statement of around 60 actors. The report is not released yet.
The WCC members have been on a warpath since the actors’ body, AMMA, had decided to reinstate prominent actor Dileep, who was arrested on charges of conspiracy in the actress assault case in February 2017 and later released on bail.
A platform of women actors, directors, scriptwriters and singers of the Malayalam industry, the WCC was launched soon after the actress assault incident, to ensure gender justice and safeguard women’s rights in the film world.
