Sexual harassment allegations continue to haunt Tollywood

Hyderabad, Sep 18 (SocialNews.XYZ) After the Malayalam film industry, the ‘Mee Too’ storm now seems to have shaken the Telugu film industry too, following allegations of rape of ace choreographer Jani Master by a female colleague and actress Poonam Kaur. Kaur has urged the Movie Artists Association (MAA) to look into a complaint she had earlier filed against noted director Trivikram Srinivas.

As the Cyberabad police ramped up their investigation into the Jani Master rape case, Poonam Kaur’s post on X added a new twist to the ongoing debate over allegations of sexual harassment in the film industry.

“If my association had filed a complaint against Trivikram Srinivas, I and many others would not have faced such political suffering. I was silently ignored. I called and then filed a complaint with the bosses. I want the big industry bosses to question director Trivikram,” she said.

Neither Trivikram nor MAA, Tollywood’s apex body, responded to the query of Poonam Kaur, who has worked in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films.

However, the actress did not specify the nature of her complaint.

This came shortly after a police case was filed against national award-winning choreographer Jani Master on allegations of sexual abuse by a 21-year-old female choreographer. Police were continuing their investigation into the woman’s allegations that Jani Master had sexually abused her on multiple occasions. The police, who have recorded the statement of the complainant, are likely to serve a notice to the accused to appear for questioning.

The Raidurgam police of Cyberabad registered a zero First Information Report (FIR) against Jani Master on September 15. Subsequently, the FIR was transferred to the Narsingi police station, which registered a case and started an investigation.

Jani Master has been arrested for rape and criminal intimidation.

The complainant told the police that she came in contact with the choreographer in 2017 and became his assistant in 2019. Since the complainant alleges that he sexually abused her when she was a minor, the police may invoke sections pertaining to the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act after a preliminary investigation.

She alleged that Jani sexually abused her multiple times during their shoot in different cities including Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The victim alleged that Jani Master sexually abused her once when they had gone to Mumbai. He alleged that he raped her in a shooting vehicle and threatened her not to tell anyone about it. She also alleged that he sexually abused her multiple times at her residence in Narsingi.

The woman also told police she had faced threats against her life from the choreographer, and on August 28, she found a suspicious package in front of her home with a message saying “this is your last shooting.” She said the suspect had threatened to block her from any job opportunities.

Meanwhile, the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) has suspended Jani Master from his post as the president of the Telugu Film & TV Dancers & Dance Directors Association till the investigation is completed. The Sexual Harassment Redressal Panel of the TFCC has received the complaint from the woman choreographer, who is a member of the association. A committee has been constituted to look into the matter.

TFCC Honorary Secretary KL Damodar Prasad said in a statement that the investigation is still ongoing.

In its interim report, the committee recommended suspending the male choreographer’s position as chairman of the association until the investigation is completed.

Tammareddy Bharadwaja, Suchitra Chandrabose, Vivek Kuchibhotla and Pragati Mahadevi are the internal members of the inquiry committee. Social worker and media expert Ramalaklshmi Medapati and advocate and POSH expert Kavya Mandava are the external members.

This is not the first time that Tollywood has witnessed allegations of sexual harassment. The film industry, considered the second largest in the country after Bollywood, was rocked by similar allegations during the Me Too movement of 2018.

Television host-turned-actor Sri Reddy staged a half-naked protest outside the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce office in Hyderabad to highlight the prevalence of sexual harassment in Tollywood.

The Women and Transgender Organisations Joint Action Committee (WTOJAC) has petitioned the High Court seeking an inquiry into the exploitation of women in the entertainment industry. The state government had constituted a high-level committee comprising police officials, film producers and directors in April 2019. Headed by then Telangana State Film Development Corporation (TSFDC) chairman Ram Mohan, the high-level committee formed a sub-committee to make recommendations for framing guidelines to curb sexual harassment at workplace.

However, the subcommittee’s report was never made public.

Source: IANS

About Gopi

Gopi Adusumilli is a programmer. He is the Editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.

He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various verified news sources.

When it comes to writing, he enjoys writing about current world politics and Indian movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgement towards anyone.

He can be reached at [email protected]