Malayalam Film Sets And Media Houses To Have Sexual Harassment Panels. Let Other Industries Follow Suit
When the #MeToo movement took place, a lot of women from the film industry around the country, revealed the sexual abuse and harassment they faced at their workplace. These women were not just actresses but also the ones who worked behind the camera and on the sets. Needless to say, many steps were taken to ensure women’s safety. In fact, quite recently the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) had filed a public interest litigation that asked for a grievance redressal mechanism to be formed in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) and in other organisations as well. And now on March 17, the Kerala High Court (HC) passed a judgement in the favour of WCC and stated that Malayalam film sets, as well as media houses, are now to have sexual harassment panels.
On Thursday, March 17, 2022, the Kerala HC passed a judgement after hearing the public interest litigation filed by WCC and stated that as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, all Malayalam film production houses are to form an Internal Committee (IC) for women.
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The Kerala HC bench further stated that the AMMA has agreed to form an IC and other organisations that have more than 10 members will also have to mandatory form an Internal Committee. The operative part of the order also read that not only film organisations but media houses also have to have ICs in accordance with POSH Act.
Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly were the two members on the bench of Kerala HC who was hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) that was filed by the WCC. Initially, when the PIL was filed by WCC, the respondents that were named were the state of Kerala and AMMA. It was only after the Centre for Constitutional Rights Research and Advocacy joined the petition did their bandwidth increase.
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As per reports, after resisting forming an IC for years, AMMA finally formed one right before the judgement was passed. But as per the Kerala HC, the IC should include one external member in it – which the AMMA doesn’t have but has said that they will change that later.
This judgement from the court makes me extremely happy and I wish that there were other film industries that also take such measures to protect women from sexual harassment.
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