Producers Guild of India sets up committee to lead anti-harassment efforts in wake of India's #MeToo movement

In the wake of India’s MeToo moment , where women from different walks of life have taken to Twitter to call out incidents of sexual misconduct and their perpetrators, Producers Guild of India issued an official statement on 9 October, extending their support towards the movement.

The statement read, “Producers Guild of India extends its complete support to the movement to call out and report sexual harassment and abuse whenever and wherever it occurs in our industry. We believe that there is an urgent need to set up a robust process to ensure the highest standards of safety for employees and crew members at the workplace - whether in offices or on sets of productions. We are instituting a committee within the Guild to lead this effort, and we are determined to stay the course till workplaces in the industry are safe spaces for everyone.”

Editors Guild of India also issued a statement where they said that the body unequivocally condemned all predatory acts carried out by men.

Editors Guild of India issues a statement on 'incidents of sexual harassment on women journalists by male colleagues'; states 'It calls upon media orgs to hold unbiased inquiries into all reported cases. Anybody found guilty of sexual harassment/assault should be punished' #MeToo pic.twitter.com/RO1xpwy450

— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2018

The statements come after writer-producer Vinta Nanda alleged that Alok Nath, the ‘sanskari’ father of Indian film and television had sexually assaulted her over two decades back. She recounted the incidents in a Facebook post on 8 October, further stating that Tara actress Navneet Nishan was also harassed on the sets of the show where Nath played the male lead. In an interview with Firstpost, she said that she had remained silent for 20 years because that was the norm of the times.

However, Alok Nath denied the allegations against him , stating that rape must have happened but someone else would have done it.