By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has swung into action by initiating steps to implement the Hema Committee report on the problems plaguing the Malayalam film industry.
A Special Investigation Team (SIT) consisting of senior women police officers has been constituted for conducting preliminary investigations into allegations of sexual harassment against a few actors of Malayalam cinema. Inspector General G. Sparjan Kumar will lead the team. H. Venkitesh, ADGP (Crime Branch) will supervise the functioning of the SIT. Other members of the team are: S. Ajeetha Begum, DIG; Merin Joseph, SP, Crime Branch; G. Poonkuzhali, AIG, Coastal Police; Aiswarya Dongre, Assistant Director, Kerala Police Academy, V. Ajith, AIG Law and Order and S. Madhusoodanan (SP, Crime Branch).
The decision to constitute the SIT has come following the allegations made by a few women actors against actor Siddique and Edavelababu, former general secretaries of the Association of Malayalam Movie Actors (AMMA), filmmaker and chairperson of Kerala State Chalachitra Academy Ranjit and actors Sudheesh and Riyas Khan. The women have accused them of sexually harassing or misbehaving with them.
While Siddique resigned after a young actor accused him of brutal sexual assault in a hotel in the Kerala capital of Thiruvananthapuram, Ranjit quit following accusation from Bengali Actor Sreelekha Mitra of inappropriate behaviour. The actors will be tried by invoking the Indian Penal Code (IPC) though the proceedings in the case will be governed by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Samhita (BNNS). The evidence in the cases will be appreciated under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyum (BSA), the legislation which has replaced the Indian Evidence Act.
The nine persons against whom criminal cases have been invoked are: actor Mukesh, former Kerala Chalachitra Academy chairperson Ranjit, former general secretaries of AMMA, Siddique and Edavela Babu, actors Jayasurya and Maniyanpilla Raju, production controller Noble, productive executive Vichu and V S Chandrashekharan , president of Lawyers’ Congress State Committee.
In another development, the executive of AMMA has been dissolved amid growing allegations of sexual assaults and misbehaviour against its members. All the 17 members of the executive including president and senior actor Mohanlal have submitted their resignations. The differences within the AMMA surfaced when a few actors including Prithviraj demanded that those facing allegations must step down from their posts. Vice-president of AMMA Jagdish went to the extent of saying that such allegations cannot be brushed aside by saying that they are isolated incidents. This was at variance with the stand taken by Siddique.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) MLA M. Mukesh has come under tremendous pressure from the Congress and the BJP. Mukesh, a two-timer MLA from Kollam is also facing accusations of sexual bullying. The FIR against Mukesh was registered under Section 376 (rape), which is a non-bailable offence, Section 354(assault or criminal force to women with intent to outrage her modesty and Section 509 (insult the modesty of a woman by word, sound, gesture or object) of the IPC. So far the CPI(M) has refused to yield to the demand for his resignation made by the opposition.
However, in an important turn of events, the Communist Party of India (CPI) a key LDF ally, felt that Mukesh should step down on moral grounds. Latest reports say that CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam met Pinarayi Vijayan with the demand that the CPI(M) MLA should be persuaded to step down. Earlier, CPI’s national secretariat member and general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) Annie Raja said political propriety demanded that Mukesh resign his post. The CPI”s aggressive stand has added to the pressure on the CPI(M) and the Government to secure Mukesh’s resignation.
In the meantime, LDF convener EP Jayarajan has taken the stand that the resignation of Mukesh would become unavoidable only if two Congress MLAs facing comparable charges quit their posts. The Congress MLAs who are under a cloud are M Vincet and Eldhos Kunnampalli. The Congress has no moral right to seek Mukesh’s resignation before getting the party’s MLAs who are facing high-profile cases to quit. That is the crux of Jayarajan ‘s argument. Jayarajan’s statement has pushed the Congress on to the backfoot. If it fails to act against the erring party MLAs, its campaign against the Government would be weakened considerably. Incidentally, on Thursday, the Congress held a statewide protest at the district headquarters and marched to Mukesh’s residence in Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam.
The general perception is that the Government could have released the Hema panel report earlier. However, the Government has redeemed itself by setting up an SIT to probe the allegations. By releasing the Hema panel report and constituting the SIT, the Pinarayi Government has set an example for other States to follow suit. And the latest reports say that Bengal and Tamil Nadu are considering taking a leaf out of Kerala’s book and probe allegations against actors in their film industries. Whatever the denouement, the release of the Hema Committee report has shaken the Malayalam film industry to its core. Hopefully, the investigation ordered by the Government would result in cleansing the industry and ensure safe working conditions and dignified existence for the women actors in Kerala.
Last but not the least, a lot of the credit for the beginning of the cleansing drive in the Malayalam film industry must go to the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) whose demand resulted in the setting up of the Hema Committee. It is a big victory for the WCC which has been championing women’s rights and equality of sexes in the Malayalam film industry. The WCC has ridiculed – rightly so – the en masse resignation of the 17 executive members of AMMA. Parvathy Thiruvoth, an actor and a member of the WCC termed the resignation as “an act of cowardice”. (IPA
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