Aug 30, 2024 09:26 PM IST
If the rot is systemic, the answer cannot be piecemeal — a resignation here, a committee there. We have to stop responding to sexual assault as disparate crimes and see it as part of a larger pattern of power imbalances stacked against women.
Rarely has the sound of heads rolling sounded sweeter. The first to go after the lid was blown off the Malayalam film industry’s rampant sexual and other abuse of women were actor Siddique and filmmaker Ranjith. By Thursday, Siddique had been charged with rape, and Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA Mukesh had to get a court order to protect him from arrest, for now.
Some are calling this the industry’s MeToo movement. Certainly, events following the release of the Justice K Hema committee’s report on the working conditions for women in the Malayalam film industry have taken on a life of their own. Even the Pinarayi Vijayan government, which sat on the report since December 2019, has announced it will investigate its findings.
We are at that inflexion point when the rumblings in Kochi are coinciding with rage in Kolkata. When public anger in Badlapur has led to a Bombay high court hearing that has asked a committee to make suggestions, including gender sensitisation of boys.
All of this is welcome. But we have heard this song before. In 2018, during India’s MeToo movement, we lost a chance as accusations dwindled into he said/she said, the big names were never outed, and criminal defamation suits had a chilling effect on others who might have spoken up.
In 2013, we lost the moment again when we thought passing a tough law, without the hard work of changing mindsets, would fix the problem.
We have another opportunity now. But what happens next depends on us. The “us” in the audience who lap up the movies of accused predators. The “us” on social media who troll and threaten those who break the silence. The “us” in law enforcement who make it difficult for women to pursue justice against the powerful. The “us” in the media who deliver PR-driven pieces timed with film releases and ask none of the difficult questions basic to journalism.
It is on “us” to make sure that those who speak up are no longer alone, that the burden of truth-telling does not fall only on women, and that those outed as predators are shunned from national debates, the box office, literature festivals, and our drawing rooms.
The doctors in Kolkata have every right to be angry. But the protests have taken on a political hue. Statements made by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee asking for a death sentence for rape and hanging by the end of the month are aimed not at finding a solution but at satiating public anger.
If the rot is systemic, the answer cannot be piecemeal — a resignation here, a committee there. We have to stop responding to sexual assault as disparate crimes and see it as part of a larger pattern of power imbalances stacked against women.
We need an occupy movement: More women in public spaces, in Parliament, in police stations, in workplaces, in the judiciary. Normalise the idea that we are equal citizens — not just sisters and daughters.
We have an opportunity. It is on us to seize it.
Namita Bhandare writes on gender.The views expressed are personal
