Federation of Western India Cine Employees demands Mukesh Chhabra's services be reinstated

The Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has recently written a letter to the managing director of Star India, asking that the suspension of Mukesh Chhabra be revoked with immediate affect, reports Times of India.

Mukesh Chhabra. Image from Facebook

The letter states that the inquiry conducted on Chhabra following anonymous claims of sexual harassment against him, does not follow the rules mandated by POSH Act, 2013. Chhabra was suspended as the director of his upcoming Kizie Aur Manny which featured Sushant Singh Rajput and debutante Sanjana Sanghi.

President of FWICE, BN Tewari stated that his organisation would look into why the POSH Act was not followed in the first place. He further added that their letter questioned why Mukesh Chhabra was not given an opportunity to present his defence before an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).

Chief Advisor to the FWICE, Ashoke Pandit, and Tewari reiterated that they would not cooperate with stances of producers and studios who make 'arbitrary' decisions without conducting a fair inquiry into the proceedings of  sexual harassment cases. “Without inquiries, we will not stand with studios and production houses that instantly want to suspend the services of an individual and later look into the matter," Tewari and Pandit said.