An organisation that represents women in Malayalam cinema has urged the authorities to take action against rape-accused producer-actor Vijay Babu for revealing the survivor’s name and triggering cyber attacks on her.
The Women in Cinema Collective on Friday demanded stringent action against Babu for “taking the survivor’s name illegally and opening the doors for mass social media attacks and shaming of the survivor”.
The actress, who has featured in one of Babu’s films, has come under severe cyber attacks ever since she accused him of rape, violence and blackmail. A large number of social media users have also come out in support of the accused.
“This debasement of women through social media is reaching its lowest depths. We urge the government to take responsibility for her safety. We request all authorities to take serious note and act,” the WCC said in a statement on Friday.
The budding actress had recently accused Babu of raping her multiple times and blackmailing her with videos he filmed during the alleged assaults. Babu denied all allegations in a Facebook Live video on Tuesday and even named the survivor in violation of Supreme Court orders.
The police have since booked Babu under IPC Sections 376 (sexual assault), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), apart from charges for naming the survivor.
The WCC demanded Babu’s immediate suspension from all film bodies and condemned the industry’s silence on the allegations against him. “We demand that the industry and all the allied associations take a serious note of this and the membership of Vijay Babu in all film bodies be suspended until there is a verdict.
“No one from the industry wants to say anything about this powerful, well-connected man. And it is this very silence that makes sure more and more women are exploited and assaulted in the industry. The WCC is appalled at this silence,” it added.
The WCC reiterated its demand for immediate implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act — popularly known as the POSH Act —
in Malayalam film productions and zero tolerance to sexual harassment in the industry.
Kerala High Court had in March ordered cinema production houses in the state to set up internal complaints committees for women professionals to air their grievances. The court had ordered the formation of the committees under the POSH Act because each film unit is an establishment that must have such a redress mechanism when 10 or more women are employed.
Culture minister Saji Cherian, who handles the Kerala State Film Development Corporation, told reporters on Friday that the state government would ensure protection of women in the film industry. “There will not be any dilution in the government’s position to ensure the protection of women in the cinema industry,” he said.
Babu on Friday moved Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail.
Kochi police commissioner C.H. Nagaraju told reporters on Friday that Babu escaped to Dubai via Bangalore on April 24 and efforts were on to bring him back.
“Our information is that the has not yet returned. So we are expecting he might come and surrender. He is an established person, he has to come back,” said the commissioner.
“We have his passport details and travel records. So there is no way he can escape,” he said.
