Kerala government forms panel after sexual abuse allegations against Malayalam film industry members
Allegations of rape have been raised against senior actor Siddique and director Ranjith was accused of sexual harassment.
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The Kerala government on Sunday formed a seven-member panel of high-ranking police officers to investigate allegations of sexual abuse against several prominent members of the Malayalam film industry, reported The Indian Express.
Earlier in the day, senior Malayalam actor Siddique resigned as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes after an actor accused him of raping her when she was younger.
Additionally, Malayalam director Ranjith resigned as the chairman of the state-run Kerala Chalachitra Academy, days after actor Sreelekha Mitra accused him of sexually harassing her in 2009.
This came against the backdrop of the Justice Hema committee report on sexual harassment and gender inequality in the Malayalam film industry being made public.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened a high-level meeting of police officers on Sunday after the allegations came to light, according to The Indian Express. A team led by Inspector-General Sparjan Kumar was formed to look into the complaints.
Allegations against Siddique and Ranjith
On Saturday, an actor from the Malayalam film industry accused Siddique of sexually assaulting her after calling her to Thiruvananthapuram for the audition of a “non-existent movie”, reported The Hindu.
“Siddique got in touch with me through a social media platform and offered me a role in a Tamil movie in which his son would also be acting,” the actor was quoted as saying by the newspaper....
