A collective of activists, writers, and filmmakers have demanded that the State government take stringent action against those engineering cyber attacks against women who have come forward to speak about sexual harassment and labour exploitation in the Malayalam cinema industry in light of the release of the Hema committee report.
In a petition to the Chief Minister, signed by over 150 people, including writers K.R. Meera, Sarah Joseph, Benyamin, Ashokan Charuvil, activist K. Ajitha, K.K. Rema, MLA, and filmmaker Jeo Baby, the collective also asked the government to take a serious view of the complaints filed by the survivors.
The collective noted that similar types of content are being pushed through various online pages as part of a deliberate and organised attack to silence and discredit the survivors. The government should also put in place a system to provide legal and psychological support to the complainants. A monitoring system should be in place to ensure effective functioning of internal committees in all film sets.
If the existing laws are insufficient to ensure the rights of those working in the entertainment industry, a comprehensive law in this field and a special tribunal for redressal of grievances should be enacted at the earliest, said the collective in the petition.
Published - October 16, 2024 07:29 pm IST
