Former Bollywood actor Celina Jaitly termed the Hema Committee Report an ‘eye opener’ and called for strict policies across all the film industries of the country, to make for a safer work environment for women.
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The Justice K Hema Committee report, about India’s Mollywood industry, which was released on August 19, said women in the Malayalam Film Industry, faced the widespread ‘worst evil’ of sexual harassment.
Following the release of the report, Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, a prominent Malayalam actor better known by his stage name Dileep, was arrested, for allegedly orchestrating the assault, and was imprisoned for three months before being released on bail.
The release of the report opened discussion on the far wider issue of chronic violence against women, encouraging women of the regional industry to speak out in public for the first time.
However, it needs to be pointed out here that the Kerala government of India released only 233 pages of the original 295-page report, excluding sections that could infringe on the privacy of the individuals mentioned.
In reference to the matter, actor Celina Jaitly was asked if she thinks it is right to protect the privacy of the offenders, to which, she questioned, “What about the women whose entire body’s privacy was destroyed by the offenders repeatedly?”
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“This report is an eye-opener to the harsh realities of violations of women’s right to something as basic as a clean and safe work environment,” she added. “All film industries, regional and national, should come together to form stringent policies which in turn should be endorsed by lawmakers so that women can have a safe environment to work in.”
