Hema panel report aftermath: AMMA president Mohanlal, others quit actors’ forum; more women file police complaints

In a statement to the media, the AMMA executive committee said: “Following the release of the Hema Committee report and the subsequent sexual allegations faced by certain office-bearers within the executive committee of AMMA in social, visual and print media, the current executive committee of AMMA, taking into consideration its moral responsibility, is stepping down.”

The statement said a general body meeting of the organisation will be held in two months to elect a new governing body. Until then, the existing governing body will continue as an ad-hoc system to ensure distribution of welfare measures to members and coordinate office matters.

“We hope that AMMA will get a new leadership to renew as well as strengthen it. Thanks to everyone for criticising and correcting,” the statement said.

After the Hema Committee report came out, AMMA general secretary Siddique was forced to quit in the wake of sexual assault allegations against him. Its joint general secretary Baburaj is also facing similar allegations. While Siddique has filed a police complaint, Baburaj has threatened legal action against his accuser.

Several prominent actors have openly criticised AMMA on the issue. “There should have been strong interventions on the part of AMMA (on allegations against its members)… Nobody can deny the existence of a power group in the industry (Hema committee had said a power group controls Malayalam cinema),” leading actor Prithviraj said on Monday.

Cracks had appeared within AMMA soon after the report was released last week. Its vice president Jagadish had demanded a probe, and said perpetrators who exploited women in the industry should be exposed.

He also told the media that violence against women in film should not be trivialised by branding them as “stray incidents”. This came soon after Siddique said such “stray incidents” should not lead to the entire film industry being blamed.

More police complaints

Police complaints also continued to pour in against more members of the Malayalam film industry. On Monday, the police had booked veteran filmmaker Ranjith on charges of sexual misconduct; on Tuesday, more women professionals filed similar complaints against multiple actors.

One of the complaints, filed by an actor, names Mukesh, a two-time CPI(M) legislator in the Kerala Assembly; Edavela Babu, a prominent leader of AMMA; and actors Maniyanpilla Raju and Jayasurya.

Another woman actor, who had quit the industry, filed a complaint against actor-producer Baburaj, the joint general secretary of AMMA, and director Sreekumar Menon.

Another actor filed a police complaint against Siddique, days after she alleged that he had sexually abused her after inviting to a hotel room in the state capital in 2016.

A seven-member special investigation team comprising IPS officers, formed to probe the revelations in the wake of the Hema Committee report, met on Tuesday to chart out its future course of action.

An official communication said all complaints registered with the local police will be handed over to the special team and the cases will be probed by women officials.

Meanwhile, actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi became the first Union minister to weigh in on the issue. The BJP leader was asked about allegations against CPI(M) MLA Mukesh, who is also a part of the Malayalam film industry.

“Did the court say anything on Mukesh? Court will say… This is all food for you (the media), is what I understand. You can use it to make money. (There is) no problem with that. But these issues are before the court, and it has the intelligence to arrive at a decision regarding them. You (media) are not only making people fight each other for your own gains, you are also misleading public perception. The complaints are in the form of allegations at the moment. What are you telling people? Let the court decide,” Gopi said.

Mukesh, in a Facebook post, called for an objective probe into the allegations against film professionals, including himself. Referring to the complaint against him, he said, “They had tried to blackmail me by demanding money. I am not ready to yield to such blackmail tactics. Truth should come out. I will initiate strong legal action against such persons.”

Alleging a conspiracy, Edavela Babu approached the state police chief against the two actors who have levelled allegations against him.