More than one hundred female artists associated with the Bengali film industry wrote to state-run Tele Academy on Tuesday, seeking a safer workplace amid outrage over the rape and murder of hospital doctor RG Kar.
Among the signatories of the letter, which was also sent to the Eastern India Film Association (EIMPA) and the West Bengal Film Artists Forum, were director Aparna Sen, actors Rupa Ganguly, Swastika MukherjeePaoli Dam, Sohini Sarkar, Sohini Sengupta, Bidipta Chakraborty, Chaitali Dasgupta, Anuradha Ray and Shakuntala Barua, and screenwriter Meghatithi Banerjee.
“The people of West Bengal, as well as the entire nation, have been deeply shocked by the recent torture and murder of a doctor at her workplace, RG Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata. In the wake of this heinous crime, it is heartening to see that the entertainment industry – theatre artists and technicians, musicians, make-up artists, dancers and choreographers, script writers and technicians – are taking to the streets in fervent protests,” the letter said.
“However, it is truly shocking that some of us are yet to take a stand against the recurring incidents of sexual abuse/harassment/violence in our own workplaces. As women working in the Bengali film, web and television industries, we face various kinds of sexual abuse every day; we also regularly hear about the rampant abuse faced by women, children and people of marginalized identities,” she says.
The letter, issued by the Women Screen Workers Forum, said there was no functional support system in place to prevent, prohibit and redress sexual harassment.
“The recurring cases of sexual abuse of women, children and other extremely vulnerable people working in this industry are not openly discussed. It is both a public secret and a silenced reality,” she added.
The letter notes that there is also a huge gap in information, access and promotion of occupational health and safety, favourable working conditions and social security guaranteed to all workers by labour laws.
“In the light of the above, we are writing this letter to enquire whether any statutory structure has been put in place for employees in the television, web platform and film industry in accordance with the laws on prevention of sexual harassment and creation of safe work spaces, constitution of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) by all employers with seven or more employees informing all employees about the LCC at the district level,” it said.
The letter called for a strict reporting mechanism in cases of seeking sexual benefits in exchange for access to work.
“We know that it is the responsibility of employers in all sectors to ensure the dignity and safety of workers in their workplaces; we firmly believe that television, web platforms and the film industry should not be an exception,” he said.
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