A long silence was broken last week with the release of the Justice Hema Committee report, and a swelling chorus of women speaking up has filled its place. In rapid succession, women from the Malayalam film industry began speaking publicly about the toxic, misogynistic work environment they’ve had to navigate, even as idols — including powerful, politically-connected actors — started to crumble. Two prominent figures, director Ranjith and actor Siddique have resigned their positions — as chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy and general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes, respectively — following allegations of sexual misconduct. Meanwhile, the state government has announced the formation of a seven-member team of high-ranking police officers — four of whom will be women —to look into the revelations in the report. These are welcome developments, signalling that the tendency to dismiss the complaints of women as “he said, she said” is beginning to shift, and that a culture of accountability, even if only tentatively, is forming.
The road to this moment has been long and arduous, going further back than the 2017 abduction-and-sexual assault case that rocked the Malayalam film industry and led to the formation of the Women in Cinema Collective, which prevailed on the Kerala government to set up the committee headed by Justice K Hema. It goes all the way back to the December 2012 gangrape case in Delhi which shook the nation and brought protesters out on the streets. The burden of shame and silence that had long been inflicted on the victims was sought to be lifted, a process that gained momentum during the 2018 MeToo movement that saw several women speak up about sexual harassment at the workplace. There have been several bumps along the way, particularly when those accused of sexual misconduct wield considerable clout. Consider, for example, how long it took for the police to act in the case of former Wrestling Federation chief and ex-BJP MP, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, accused of sexual assault by women wrestlers. The nearly five-year delay in the release of the Hema Committee report is another example, which shows the persistence that such a fight demands.
The road ahead, passing through a landscape rutted with deep power asymmetries, won’t be easy either. Demands for new laws and stricter punishments have been made, not only in the context of the Malayalam film industry but vis a vis crimes in Kolkata and Badlapur, for instance. These alone, however, cannot be the signposts to a future of greater accountability and justice. That, as actor Urvashi pointed out recently, will require changing existing structures and ensuring that the most vulnerable are heard. There is a need to ensure that the law can keep up with how sexual assault and harassment are now understood, but it cannot take place without chipping away at systems that enable and exculpate abusers. The onus for this, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi pointed out recently, is on both society and government, because “governments will come and go, but protecting lives and safeguarding the dignity of women” is everyone’s responsibility.
