Bengali Actress Ritabhari Chakraborty Meets CM Mamata Banerjee, Urges Panel Like Hema Committee

Hema Committee Report Impact: Ritabhari Chakraborty, a Bengali actress, met with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday, September 10, to request for the state-level committee just like Hema Committee to investigate the sexual abuse allegations within the Bengali industry, reported by PTI.

This has come days after a redacted version of Hema Committee was published, owing to which several actresses of the Malayalam film industry came forward to file FIRs against their perpetrators including prominent figures of the industry. So far, Siddique, Ranjith, Mukesh M, Jayasurya, Nivin Pauly and others have been accused of sexual misconduct.

'We have a responsibility to protect young actresses'

During her meeting with the chief minister, the actress requested for an "unbiased committee" consisting of five members, headed by a retired justice. She also proposed the inclusion of women from various professions, including lawyers and doctors. The aim of this committee would be to probe the sexual harassment allegations and produce a comprehensive report. “The reports of abuse are all too familiar to me and others I know. We have a responsibility to protect young actresses who enter the industry with dreams, only to face exploitation,” the actress was quoted saying by PTI.

Ritabhari Chakraborty takes the first step towards unmaking the predators

On Wednesday, the actress shared a post on her Instagram handle that reads, "Yesterdday, Chief Minister Mamata responded to our request of creating a similar body like Hema Committee. My request for the body to not have any political name or film personalities was heard. An unboased committee of 5, headed by a former justice was formed consisting of women of different designation from doctor to lawyer who will investigate the sexual harassment practices in Bengali Film Industry and create a report. First step towards unmaking the predators."

In the caption, she wrote, "NOT REPRESENTING ANY PARTY, on behalf of women in tollywood - In a meeting yesterday, CM heard all the issues that has troubled women in the bengali film industry for ages and a step was taken to cleanse it from these predators. Investigation takes time but we will see the end of this."

What is an update on Mollywood's #MeToo wave?

The Kerala High Court on September 9 came down heavily on the State government's inaction in the matters pertaining to sexual assault cases in the Malayalam Film Industry. The court blasted the authorities for not registering FIRs against those accused and for doing ‘nothing’ except constitute the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The special bench, constituted by Justice AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice C S Sudha, directed the SIT to submit an action taken report at the earliest.