The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has been urged by the National Commission for Women to direct publication, print and production houses to form an internal committee to probe complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.
In the past few days, many complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace have been received by the women rights body against persons in both the digital media and traditional print organisation. “We have informed the Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that the NCW has received many such complaints,” an NCW official said as reported by NDTV.
The official further said, “The NCW has requested Secretary to ensure that organisation such as printing/publishing, production houses involved in TV/film production put in place an effective mechanism for addressing such complaints including Constituting Internal Committees concerning the PoSH Act, 2013”.
The NCW also said perpetrators of such crimes need to get punishment as per the law. The commission has created a particular email ID to help women speak up against sexual harassment and has urged the women to send their written complaints to [email protected]
Vinta Nanda reaches out to NCW
Veteran TV writer-producer Vinta Nanda has reached out to NCW after filing a police case against actor Alok Nath. She filed the complaint online and is looking forward to NCW taking action on the issue.
Earlier, in a Facebook post, she shared how she was raped by the Alok Nath, 19 years ago. Actress Sandhya Mridul also alleged that Nath had harassed her. She had posted her experience on Twitter stating that he had sexually harassed her at the beginning of her career. She said, “In truth & solidarity. I’m with you Vinta Nanda #metoo.”
#MeToo movement:
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has asked the NCW to promptly inquest all complaints regarding sexual harassment received by them under the #MeToo movement. The #MeToo movement took its steam after Actress Tanushree Dutta accused Actor Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her while shooting for a film in 2008. After this incident, many women came forward and publicly named their harassers.
Even big names like veteran actor Alok Nath, singer Anu Malik, film director Sajid Khan, a journalist turned politician M.J. Akbar, have been accused of sexual harassment.
