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Members of the Mahila Nyay Andolan marched to the Superintendent of Police office in Palakkad on August 27, 2024. They demanded an inquiry into the findings of the Hema Committee report and immediate implementation of its recommendations. | Photo credit: KK Musthafa
A massive investigation into complaints of sexual exploitation and abuse in the Malayalam film industry intensified on Wednesday.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), probing the allegations, recorded the statement of the woman artiste, who had publicly accused senior actor and former general secretary of the Malayalam Movie Artistes Association Siddique of raping her at a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram on the pretext of giving her an audition for a film project.
The SIT also headed to Kochi, where investigators met a female actor who had accused four actors and two production controllers of sexual exploitation. She had also accused a politically connected lawyer of trying to lure her to a film producer for sexual exploitation.
Officials said the SIT will try to strengthen the evidence given by the victims by persuading them to testify in-camera in the magistrate court.
However, he said that evidence alone may not provide the standard of proof required to ensure conviction in delayed sexual abuse cases.
Therefore, the SIT may examine programmes from previous productions, photographs of film sets, statements of co-stars and technical staff, and recollections of costumes, to validate the testimony of survivors as well as prepare a timeline to reconstruct the chain of events and circumstances that led to the crime.
Besides, statements of drivers and personal staff of the accused persons, many high-profile actors, who often follow a well-planned day by fixing the shooting date well in advance, may prove to be crucial in the case.
Production companies and their auditors can provide evidence of schedules, payments and other financial transactions, including hotel and vehicle rentals.
The police may try to record such statements as affidavits for the benefit of the prosecution. The SIT will also question co-actors who worked with the suspects in film sets related to the crime.
A senior investigator said such supplementary statements could help the police corroborate the victims’ testimony and help the prosecution build a strong case against the suspects. He said the SIT’s goal could be to find well-authenticated evidence to strengthen the credibility of the victim’s story.
The police have so far adopted a victim-centric investigation approach. Law enforcement agencies were keenly aware that sexual assault survivors, even after several years, face enormous personal and professional hurdles and risk ostracism and brutal cyber attacks. The high-profile and politically sensitive investigation has drawn public attention and dominated the news cycle in the state for several days.
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