WCC members Rima Kallingal, Revathy, Beena Paul and Deedi Damodaran after meeting Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on September 11, 2024.
| Photo Credit: S. Mahinsha
A few members of Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), an advocacy group championing women’s rights and equality of sexes in the Malayalam entertainment industry, called on Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the latter’s office in the Government Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday (September 11, 2024).
The meeting, though reportedly brief, assumed gravity barely a day after the Kerala High Court slammed the State government for not taking any action so far on the Hema Committee report. A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court had directed the government to hand over the entire report to the special investigation team (SIT) and file a report as to what action can be taken on the basis of it.
WCC members Rima Kallingal, Revathy, Beena Paul, and Deedi Damodaran met Mr. Vijayan in his chamber. What transpired at the closed-door meeting was not immediately clear.
A government insider said WCC could have declared its stance about the government’s proposed cinema conclave in 2025 and sought the administration’s help to protect women’s rights in cinema workplaces and make the industry’s environment more democratic and egalitarian through reforms, including forming a regulatory authority.
The committee also noted the existence of a power group at the industry’s apex and indicated that the clique had the authority to make or break individual stars, technicians, producers, and film directors.
The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), perhaps the most influential organisation in the film industry, had denied the presence of such a pernicious power group.
The High Court had also censured the government for allegedly secreting the report without setting the law in motion for nearly five years. It termed the alleged passivity “alarmingly lethargic”.
The High Court’s observations provided the Congress and the BJP potent ammunition to punch holes in the LDF government’s professed pro-women stance. It raised serious questions about women’s workplace safety in the film industry, the gender pay gap, non-payment of wages and dismal work conditions, including a lack of toilets, cloakrooms and low-quality food of dubious quality.
Meanwhile, the SIT, constituted by the government to probe accusations of sexual exploitation and harassment that emerged in the public domain after the recent publication of a redacted version of the Hema Committee report, would soon commence its probe into the instances of abuse recorded by the quasi-judicial panel.
A top official said the SIT would implement the law by treating the depositions and evidence, including digital proof survivors submitted before the committee, as “first information.”
He said SIT members would likely meet the deposers discreetly and record their statements in-camera in a magistrate court for further action.
The High Court had ordered the government to furnish all the findings of the Hema Committee to the SIT which comprises four women IPS officers.
Published – September 11, 2024 01:57 pm IST
