WCC members meet CM; seek action for privacy, safety of women who gave statement to Hema Committee

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after the Kerala High Court pulled up the state government for its inaction over the sexual assault allegations revealed in the Hema Committee report, Women in Cinema Collective, an association of female employees in the Malayalam film industry, met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday. WCC representatives actors Revathy, Rima Kallingal, editor Beena Paul, and director Deedi Damodaran, arrived at CM's office for the crucial meeting on Wednesday morning. 

Talking to Manorama News, Revathy said that WCC expressed its concern over the safety of the women who had given statements to the Hema Committee that studied crimes against women and gender inequality in the Malayalam film industry. 

" We requested the CM to take action for the privacy and security of the women who appeared before the committee. Details of these women should not be made public.We approached the CM as we are really worried about their safety," said Revathy.

Manorama News reported that CM promised WCC that their demands would be considered.

Rima Kallingal told reporters that they wanted to bring all stakeholders in the industry together. However, she and other WCC members were reluctant to divulge any other details about their meeting with the CM. According to reports, WCC also informed the CM about their stance on film policy. 

A week ago, WCC founding member Rima Kallingal, in an interview with the media, alleged that attempts are being made to destroy the credibility of the association. She pointed out that WCC would lead the discussions based on the Hema Committee report in the right direction. The actor also opened up about WCC's plans to meet CM, seeking further action on the report.

On Tuesday, the Kerala High Court raised a sharp criticism against the state government for ignoring the serious allegations in the Hema Committee report and asked the state government to hand over the complete report to the Special Investigation Team. A special division bench comprising Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and C S Sudha said the government got the report over four years ago and ought to have immediately responded and directed that the full report be handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take requisite action by law.

"In the instant case, the conduct of the State Executive has been alarmingly lethargic. Although the report of the Justice Hema Committee was submitted to the state government as early as December 31, 2019, there was no action taken thereon for well over four years... "... and even after that, it took litigation to spur the state into action, and that too only in respect of one of the many issues that were flagged by the Justice Hema Committee," the bench said in its order.