The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) has demanded Malayalam film industry organisations to suspend the membership of producer and actor Vijay Babu who has been accused of raping a budding female actor and also revealing her identity.
Criticising the film bodies over their silence on the case against Mr. Babu, the collective urged the Kerala government to take responsibility for the safety of the victim who has been facing incessant attacks on social media after the accused revealed her identity.
“Industry associations that he is a member of are just quiet. 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,” said a statement from the WCC.
“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. We demand that Mr. Babu’s membership in all film bodies be suspended until there is a verdict,” the statement said.
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.
The collective has demanded the Women’s Commission and Cyber Cell to act upon the cyber attacks against her urgently, as Mr. Babu revealing the survivor’s name illegally has opened doors for a mass social media attacks and shaming of the survivor.
