Actor Parvathy Thiruvothu has thrown down the gauntlet to the state government poking it to step into an 'actionable' course in the wake of the Hema Commission report that has exposed the dark underbelly of the Malayalam movie industry.
Talking to Manorama News, the award-winning actor has urged the state government that commissioned the report to take timely and appropriate measures, especially on alleged abuse cases of minors cited in the report. "If the government doesn't take necessary action despite such a damning report it will be damaging to it. The public is keenly invested in this. Perhaps those in the industry can choose to remain silent, but if the government too remains silent that will be damaging," Parvathy said.
The report was published on Monday more than four years since it was tabled before the state government. Now, Parvathy has urged the government not to delay the corrective measures. "We demand that it can't take another four-and-a-hal-years," Parvathy said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Tuesday that the state police could not take suo moto cognizance of the sexual assault and workplace harassment crimes cited in the report unless the survivors complained. But Parvathy has urged the government to dig deeper into the terminology. "There are 'women' and 'girl' references in the report. The government must make an effort to find out why those words were used separately in the report. That is a serious issue and would require suo moto cognizance under POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) rules," Parvathy said.
She added that the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), of which she is a member, does not have any information on crimes under the POCSO Act as allegedly cited in the report.
Parvathy has also sought clarity on the government's recommendation to host a conclave to discuss the issues plaguing Mollywood. "Firstly, this conclave needs to be defined. Will it be a platform shared by the survivor and perpetrators? From what I understand, a conclave has panel discussions. But there isn't much clarity on whether mere discussions will help formulate best practices required in a workplace," Parvathy said.