Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) vice-president Maniyanpillai Raju on Monday maintained that the organisation can't expel actor Vijay Babu over the sexual assault complaint against him.
He stated that Maala Parvathi, who had resigned from the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) following alleged inaction by AMMA in the complaint against Vijay Babu, was free to take any decision she wants. However, all the other ICC members are with AMMA, he claimed. Soon after her resignation from the committee, Maala Parvathi had stated that other ICC members like Shwetha Menon and Cuckoo Parameshwaran, would also hand over their resignations.
According to Maniyanpillai, no hasty decision can be taken against any member of AMMA. “We are a registered charitable organisation and have to follow several procedures before taking any decision. We wanted to take action against Vijay Babu. As part of this, we spoke to him. He said he would stay away from the executive committee of AMMA as he did not want to tranish the organisation's image. He also said he will return only when he gets a clean chit,” Maniyanpillai said.
He claimed that the committee members, including Shwetha Menon, had agreed to Vijay Babu's decision to stay away from AMMA. They were also willing to follow the procedures taken by AMMA. As per procedure, the accused will receive a letter from the organisation. After hearing the accused's explanation, the person is expected to sit through three hearings only after which any action will be initiated.
Maniyanpillai maintained that every member of AMMA should be heard. “The women have their own organisation. Similarly, we also have to listen to our members. The issue is in court. If the accused is proven guilty, AMMA won't stand with him and won't go out of our way to protect him,” he said.
Meanwhile, he stated that the organisation had taken a hasty decision in actor Dileep's case. “The committee, which was in power then, should not have taken such a hasty decision. They should have followed all the procedures in the case,” he said.
