Actor and CINTAA General Secretary Sushant Singh addressed the media today.
Cine and TV Artists’ Association (CINTAA) on Wednesday held a press conference to address the sexual harassment incidents and ongoing #MeToo movement in India. The press meet was led by President Vikram Gokhle, General Secretary Sushant Singh and Senior Joint Secretary Amit Behl.
CINTAA had recently announced that it would send a show-cause notice to actor Alok Nath. Writer-producer Vinta Nanda has accused Nath of sexual assaulting her many years ago. Sushant revealed that Nath had requested the organisation to not expel him until he is proven guilty.
The organisation had also earlier said that it would thoroughly look into the matter of Tanushree Dutta who accused Nana Patekar of sexually harassing her on the sets of the 2008 film Horn Ok Pleassss.
Elaborating on the Tanushree-Nana case, Vikram Gokhle assured that CINTAA was trying to understand what happened ten years back. “But we can’t comment on it right now because the matter is now a judicial matter,” he said.
Sushant Singh also spoke on the other reported cases of actors like Flora Saini. He said, “These women didn’t have the voice then, but today they know that we stand with them.”
Further sharing CINTAA’s take on the existing cases, Sushant said, “There were a lot of senior people in the industry who were upset with CINTAA’s stand. People told us not to bring out skeletons from the closet. But we had to because it is important.”
The CINTAA general secretary added how despite having 9000 members, there was a lack of unity in CINTAA. “But now we are looking at many things, we are more holistic. We are looking at having workshops. We are more aware and passionate about our work,” he said.
Sushant also revealed CINTAA will be following Vishakha guidelines and have more than 50 per cent women on the committee, with actor Swara Bhasker coming on board.
CINTAA’s official statement which was issued today, read, “We are already in the process of constituting a high-powered committee to address the issue of sexual harassment. We have decided to now publicly name and shame all defaulters in the media viz-a-viz sexual harassment, defaults on payments, non-regulation of health and safety guidelines and unfair contracts. We seek the support of the media in this endeavour.”
So what will happen if someone is proven as an offender? “As a union, the max we can do is remove their membership with us,” Gokhle said.
CINTAA announced its tie-up with POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harasament at Work) as well. It has also formed a committee with members including Raveena Tandon, Renuka Shahane, Amol Gupte, Journalist Bharti Dubey and Lawyers of Posh, apart from asking veteran actresses to join this committee.
“The most important thing is to listen to these survivors. Finally, we have a space where we are listening to people. We will also have open-mic sessions where artistes can come and share their harassment stories. So, let’s not shame survivors. Let’s keep the movement alive,” Sushant said.
CINTAA is also keen to keep a check on casting directors and install CCTV cameras on film sets. It also announced its branch in Delhi. According to the organisation, it is also working on rights for artistes and technicians on web platforms.