A day after the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) questioned the silence of Malayalam film industry organisations on the rape allegations against producer and actor Vijay Babu, the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (A.M.M.A) seems to be making the first moves in this regard. The Association has convened its executive committee meeting on Sunday, in which possible action against Mr.Babu is expected to be taken up for discussion.
According to sources, the Association might seek an explanation from him and ask him to step down from the executive committee until his name is cleared. The Association has in the past too dithered on taking decisive steps in similar circumstances, when the allegations of the kidnap and sexual assault of a female actor were raised against actor Dileep. After a delayed ouster, when he was named as an accused in the case, he was quickly reinstated to the association. Later in October 2018, he was made to resign from the organisation following immense pressure from the WCC and the public.
On Friday, the WCC had demanded industry associations including AMMA to suspend Mr.Babu's membership.
"No one from the industry wants to say anything about this powerful, well-connected man. And it is this very silence that makes sure more and more women are exploited and assaulted in the industry. WCC is appalled at this silence. This silence from trade associations comes in spite of the recent judgement of the Kerala High Court directing them to implement the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 in the Malayalam film industry, in letter and spirit," the WCC had said in a statement.
The WCC said that unless they take action against him for his “brazenly illegal act” of victim-shaming in public, their stand as industry organisations is problematic. “The last time this debate happened, they claimed to ‘stand with the survivor and pray for the accused’. If they choose to stay silent now, should we assume that he is twirling his moustache and speaking on behalf of all of them? Claiming that he was innocent and that he would file a counter case of defamation, he went on to deliberately name the young woman actor again several times, making sure she would be the target of vicious social media mobs,” said the statement.
Meanwhile, the police is moving ahead with steps to bring back the actor, who had fled to Dubai. On Friday, he had moved an anticipatory bail in the Kerala High Court. Commenting on the issue, Opposition Leader V.D.Satheesan said that there is a constant flurry of complaints of exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry. He targeted the State Government for the delay in the implementation of the Hema Commission report to address these issues. He demanded that the contents of the report are made public and be taken up for discussion within and outside the Assembly.
