The highest decision-making body of the CPI-M's Kerala unit, which met in Thiruvananthapuram for the past two days, ruled on Saturday, August 31, that actor-turned-party legislator Mukesh – against whom an FIR has been lodged on allegations of sexual assault – need not quit as a legislator.
A woman actor has accused Mukesh of sexually assaulting her. Mukesh has been charged under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
“A campaign has been launched seeking Mukesh's resignation. We did a detailed analysis and found that 16 MPs and 135 MLAs across the country are facing trial in similar cases,” CPI-M state Secretary M V Govindan told mediapersons on Saturday.
“As many as 54 BJP MLAs, 23 Congress legislators, and 13 AAP MLAs, among others, are facing similar cases but none has resigned so far. Even in Kerala, two opposition legislators are facing trial of which one was also jailed. Many other prominent leaders in the state, including (late) Oommen Chandy, Kunhalikutty, Hibi Eden, Shashi Tharoor, Peethambara Kurup, and A.P. Anil Kumar, faced different cases but they never quit,” Govindan added.
The CPI-M leader added that if a legislator quits and gets exonerated later, they cannot get back their MLA status.
"But we want to make it clear that Mukesh will not get any benefits on account of his status as a legislator in the ongoing case. The party, however, has decided to remove him from the committee formed to draft measures for a new Cinema Policy,” Govindan said.
He also said that the Hema Committee, whose report recently revealed rampant sexual exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry, was “just a panel.”
The Justice Hema Committee report established the wide prevalence of sexual harassment against women in the film industry. The report was recently made public following which many survivors have come forward to name their perpetrators.
“Had it been a judicial commission, the report would have been placed in the Assembly. Since Hema Committee was only a panel, the Kerala government will take actions on its report. Actions have already been taken on 24 points. No other state in the country has appointed such a committee,” Govindan claimed.
He added that the state government has formed a seven-member Special Investigation Team, including four female IPS officers, to probe the cases which have been registered after the Hema Committee report was made public.
“Eleven cases have been registered based on different complaints. The government has nothing to hide... A ruling party legislator has also been charged, so let the probe continue,” said Govindan.
The Justice Hema Committee was formed by the Kerala Government in 2017 based on a petition by the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) to study the challenges faced by women in the industry.
In December 2019, the Committee had submitted the findings to the Kerala Government but the report was not made public until recently. The report has pointed out various issues ranging from sexual abuse and lack of grievance redressal systems to the unavailability of toilet facilities for women in film sets.
With IANS inputs