Tamil Actor’s Organisation proposes 5-year ban on sex offenders in film industry

Kerala Police have registered FIRs against popular Malayalam actors and directors. (Representative)

Chennai:

The ‘Nadigar Sangam’, the union representing film, television and stage actors in Tamil Nadu, on Wednesday passed a resolution after a meeting of its Gender Sensitization and Internal Committee.

The resolution stated that the Gender Sensitization and Internal Affairs Commission would provide all legal assistance to the victims of sexual harassment in the Tamil film industry.

It also said that if a woman comes forward with a complaint of sexual harassment or other related offences, it should be thoroughly investigated. If the complaint is found to be true, a recommendation will be made to the producers association to ban the perpetrators from the film industry for five years.

According to the resolution, the alleged compilers would first receive a warning, after which measures would follow.

The Committee said that victims can submit their complaints to the perpetrators’ organization through a special telephone number that has already been set up. A new email address has also been created for this purpose.

The Nadigar Sangam also said it would provide full support to those who wish to file complaints against the content of YouTube channels.

In its statement, the actors’ organization advised victims to first contact the Committee before speaking directly to the media about their complaints.

You may recall that after the Hema Commission report, which exposed the widespread sexual exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry, was made public by the Kerala government, several complaints were filed against leading film personalities of the state.

The Kerala Police have filed cases against popular Malayalam actors Mukesh, who also serves as CPI-M MLA, Siddik, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Baburaj and directors Ranjith and VK Prakash.

Following the developments in the neighbouring state, similar allegations were made by some Tamil actresses. This prompted the Nadigar Sangam to convene a meeting of its Gender Sensitization and Internal Committee.

Vishal, the popular Tamil actor and general secretary of Nadigar Sangam, told media that women who have complaints of sexual abuse can approach the commission, which will ensure that justice is done.

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