CASTING OUT THE COUCH

On a petition filed by Women in Cinema Collective, the Kerala High Court has directed film production companies to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee under the POSH Act to avoid sexual abuse under the casting couch system

- Adarsh Kumar

The Kerala High Court took an important decision to prevent frequent sexual abuse by the casting couch women in the film industry. The Court directed film production companies to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) by implementing the POSH Act to provide protection under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, in the film industry. The Court said that this Act will be applicable to all those production companies where 10 or more people work. The Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Women in Cinema Collective.

The petition also mentioned that political parties should be included in the matter. The Court, however, responded, saying that political parties that do not have employees or where employees do not have a direct relation with party members, are exempted from forming an ICC. The Court's order focused on big film production houses and directed that all organizations related to the film industry who have 10 or more people working there, including women employees, will have to form an ICC.

The paramount contention was that the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), with its registered office at Thiruvananthapuram, is an association registered under the provisions of the Travancore Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955, and its membership is restricted to actor/artists in feature films. According to the petitioners, as per the bye-laws of the society, its objectives are to protect the rights of its members, to maintain and develop self-discipline and professional and social ethics among members; to highlight issues concerning the artists and to find out possible remedies; and act as arbitrators in all disputes that may be submitted to them for arbitration by the members and others in the film industry.