Women in Cinema Collective demand sexual harassment committee in Malayalam film industry

Following incidents of sexual harassment and exploitation of female actors in the Malayalam film industry, the Woman in Cinema Collective (WCC), led by stars like Parvathy and Reema Kalingal among others, have spoken for the need of a committee to address such grievances, reported The News Minute. In a Facebook post on Sunday, referring to the questions asked to the collective about their role in dealing with sexual harassment, WCC pledged to work towards setting up an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) as per Indian law. The post extended support to TV actor Nisha Sarang of the show Uppum Mulakum, who alleged that the director misbehaved with her and she was removed from the serial for resisting his advances, according to  The Hindu. However, the reports of the actor being sacked have been dismissed by the channel.

The statement, originally in Malayalam, says, “There should never be a situation where a woman falls into trouble or becomes a victim of sexual harassment here. We stand here to ensure just that. We are taking the effort to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee in the field of cinema – by viewing the field as just another industry – to handle the grievances of women. The ICC is mandated by the law in all workplaces, to handle issues related to women.” According to The Hindu, the post also added that the police has the responsibility of taking suo motu cognisance and carrying out an investigation against those who target the WCC for taking up women-related issues in cinema and outside of it.