The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and is government in Kerala should hang its head in shame for the failure to take action on the Justice Hema Committee report about exploitation in the Malayalam film industry.
The report is yet to be made public by the government, though it is being circulated after some individuals obtained a copy using the Right to Information Act.
The findings of the Hema Committee are shocking and the report reveals that not just women, but also men in the Malayalam film industry are subject to harassment and exploitation; of course there is no mention of sexual harassment of men in the industry.
Justice K Hema and the other two members of the committee need to be complimented for the way they handled the probe, ensuring secrecy when it came to inviting those who had complaints about exploitation. They took care that even high-profile personalities were kept away from the public eye when they came before the committee to narrate their woes. Even the media did not get any hint about the visits. The proceedings of the meetings were in camera.
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The committee took on record the various complaints, but kept the names of the complaints secret and the names do not find place in the final report. This was done to protect them from bad publicity and more than that from further exploitation by the “mafia” in the industry, as described in the report.
Many women, who deposed before the committee mentioned that they had not informed even their family members or the near and dear ones about their exploitation. The committee placed on record 30 types of job profiles and 18 types of exploitation and harassment in the Malayalam film industry. So, it is not that only women playing lead roles in the films were exploited sexually, even those in other areas of work were victims.
When it came to the cases of exploitation of women, the report states that actresses were either asked for sexual favours to get work or to continue to get work; or asked to give nude scenes and indulge in lip-locks, though these scenes were not mentioned at the time of signing of the contracts.
Had the names of the victims come on record, it would have been fodder for some journalists and media houses, especially those chasing Television Rating Points (TRPs). Even many individuals active on social media would have caused more trauma to the victims by adding their own imagination to their posts.
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While the committee is to be complimented, the CPI(M) and its government need to be condemned for not making the report public and for failing to take action on it. The communist and Marxist ideology has emphasised gender equality and has raised its voice against exploitation of women. But that is now a thing of the past. By their silence over the Justice Hema Committee report and the government’s failure to bring to justice the offenders, it is clear that the current Marxists, as well as the other Left parties, including the Communist Party of India (CPI), have divorced the communist and Marxist ideology.
Of course, it is not going to be easy to bring the culprits to justice on some of the counts like the sexual exploitation, since the victims are not willing to speak up. However, the government could always insist on in-camera hearing of such cases, as has been done in many cases, not necessarily falling in the gamut of sexual exploitation. An example is the hearing of the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, by his brother.
There are other issues too on which the guilty can be and should be booked. But the government does not seem to be keen on taking action. This is clear from the fact that it has remained silent on the report for over four years.
The BJP and its government at the Centre is no better, when it comes to taking action on charges of sexual exploitation of women. The party and its government have remained silent on the stripping and parading of women in Manipur and on the complaints from India’s wrestlers of sexual harassment by the then President of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Singh, who was also a Member of Parliament of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha.
There is no word on these two incidents from either the prime minister or the Union home minister. With their silence, the spokespersons of the party, who regularly shout themselves hoarse on television channels, deviate from the topic when they are asked to speak on the issue, though that itself is rare as most anchors take care not to ask embarrassing questions to BJP spokespersons.
However, with an eye on the elections in Haryana, where wrestler Vinesh Phogat, one of the complainants against Brij Bhushan, is a Congress candidate, the BJP leadership has asked Brij Bhushan to desist from making wild statements against Phogat.
There is a demand from certain quarters to release the report of a similar probe on Tollywood. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to set up a committee on the lines of the Justice Hema Committee in Kerala. This is following a suggestion by Bengali actress Ritabhari Chakraborty.
The current government in Maharashtra has been painting the state red, speaking about its Ladki Bahin (beloved sister) scheme of giving Rs 1,500 per month to women in the state. If Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his two deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar really consider the women in the state as their “beloved sisters”, they should appoint a similar committee to look at the situation in Bollywood, which has its base in Mumbai.
There have been complaints of sexual abuse and use of the casting couch from Bollywood stars, and #MeToo campaigns were also launched with complaints from all over the country and from various industries. But gradually the campaign died down and not many were brought to justice.
All in all, one wonders whether any political party is really keen on fighting sexual exploitation in any industry.
The author is a senior journalist and media trainer. He tweets at @a_mokashi
