The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) had approached the K. Hema commission to ensure a better environment for women in the Malayalam film industry, but the focus only on the sexual harassment issue in the deposition had overshadowed that imperative, says Bina Paul, artistic director of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) and founding member of the WCC, in a chat with The Hindu on the sidelines of the regional IFFK here on Friday.
Do you think criminal cases should be booked for exploitation of women based on the deposition before the Hema commission?
I think this was not a legal commission, but a research commission. It is a fact that women had given statements from personal experience and perception. A case is made when there is a kind of objectivity. These were personal stories told to the commission. Jurist Hema recorded the stories. Her purview was not only this. The commission’s purview was to examine the workings of the Malayalam film industry in terms of gender. Sexual harassment was only one part of it.
There were issues of employment, [lack of] encouragement, security and so on. I think this overemphasis on sexual harassment is what is creating a problem. As far as the WCC is concerned, sexual harassment is a very important issue. We have gone to court and received an order. It is being implemented in the Malayalam film industry.
Regarding the Hema commission, the onus is on the government [to take action based on the witnesses’ accounts or not]. The WCC cannot prescribe it.
Are you saying that the commission report need not be published and no legal action taken against those responsible?
I am not saying that. It is the business of the government to take legal or judicial proceedings. It is not the job of the WCC. The women who gave their statements before the commission could also have chosen other paths. I think this feeling that we are just digging to create trouble has to be changed. The aim is to clear up the space. The narrative should not be the sexual exploitation of women alone. It is very important. I am not denying it. I think the commission's brief was larger.
On the views of legal experts, including a former Law Secretary, that the State cannot refrain from booking cases on the ground that no accused had been named before the commission.
I think that is the State’s call. He is the [former] Law Secretary. Let him advise the government. This is not the WCC’s purview. We firmly believe that this commission was to look into the issues and that the government has to act now. How the government chooses to act on it is the government’s issue.
