Amidst ongoing controversy over the decision of Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) to reinstate Actor Dileep, who is facing a court trial for allegedly masterminding the abduction and sexual assault of a female actor, Dileep himself has decided not to be an active worker of the organisation till all charges are cleared against him.
Dileep’s stand in a Facebook post came hours after Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) demanded an emergency executive meeting of AMMA to discuss the issue. On Wednesday, four actors resigned from AMMA to protest the organisation’s decision to reinstate the actor. The four including the victim, Rima Kallingal, Remya Nambisan and Geetu Mohandas are also the leading actors of the Malayalam Film Industry.
After stepping down from the film guild, the actors expressed their anger on the official facebook site called Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), which was formed in 2017, as a response to the sexual assault on the victim, the same year.
അമ്മ എന്ന സംഘടനയിൽ നിന്ന് ഞാൻ രാജിവെക്കുകയാണ് . എനിക്ക് നേരെ നടന്ന ആക്രമണത്തിൽ കുറ്റാരോപിതനായ നടനെ 'അമ്മ'യിലേക്ക്…
Posted by Women in Cinema Collective on Tuesday, June 26, 2018
In the Facebook post, actor Nambeesan said that she is proud to be apart of Malayalam movies but her decision to step down is because of the highly ‘inhuman’ behaviour of AMMA to reinstate a person who is accused of assaulting one of her colleagues.
Actor Geetu Mohandas said, “I should have taken this earlier as I knew that it was difficult to question AMMA’s decisions while being part of the outfit. The association wants people who obey its leadership.” She also said that she would fight against AMMA’s move “from the outside”.
Actor Kallingal has given more reasons to step down from AMMA. She said, “I don’t think this issue is limited to just one person or organisation. I am leaving AMMA, not because of this one issue [Dileep’s reinstatement]. It is also because I want to see a workplace where next-generation women artists can hold their heads high.”
The 2017 Assault And Abduction Case
On February 17, 2017, a group of men allegedly stopped the victim’s car in Ernakulam’s Angamaly when she was travelling to Kochi from Thrissur. The four men allegedly held her hostage for over two hours in the moving car. They reportedly assaulted her and took photographs of her. The same day a case was filed by the victim.
According to reports, the abduction was planned by the main accused Dileep and his friend Suni. The kidnapping and assault were planned because of some personal grudge against the victim. Actor Dileep was booked under 17 sections of the Indian Penal Code. Dileep’s ex-wife Manju Warrier and current wife Kavya Madhavan are among the 355 witnesses in the case. Dileep was behind bars for 80 days and is out on a penalty bail.
The Logical Indian Take
Actor Dileep may or may not have committed the crime. The case is sub-judice, and it is up to the court to decide. The question here arises that if the state is prosecuting him, the association should have taken the responsibility to keep him out of the board until he is cleared of all the charges. The same organisation that earlier expelled Dileep, when he was arrested has taken him back even when he is still an accused. This strand of reinstating the actor shows the double standard of the association and disrespect towards the victim, who is also one of the members of the association.