Special team comes across 15 sexual harassment incidents

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe allegations of sexual harassment in Malayalam film industry has so far come across 15 such incidents. Highly placed sources said at least half of these incidents appear to be of serious nature warranting registration of cases. However, the police will set in motion legal procedure only if the aggrieved persons consent to file complaints.

Sources said DIG S Ajeetha Begum has been appointed as the single-point contact to liaison with the people, who have been vocal about the mistreatment they had faced from the male members of the film fraternity. “The team is collecting details of such incidents of harassment reported by media and social media platforms. Being the senior-most women officer in the team, Ajeetha will be talking to them first. The complaints that the SIT gets will also be examined by her first,” the sources said.

In the meeting which was attended by all senior police officers and chaired by State Police Chief Shaik Darvesh Saheb, it was decided to transfer all cases connected to sexual harassment in the film industry to the SIT. The four women IPS officers in the team will form separate teams if they come across more complaints. More women officers will be drafted to the team to help with further legal procedures. Coastal Police AIG G Poonkuzhali and Kerala Police Academy Assistant Director Aishwarya Dongre, who are stationed in Ernakulam and Thrissur respectively, will conduct probe on complaints originating from those areas.