The leader of the opposition, VD Satheesan, has called for filmmaker Ranjith to be removed from his position as chairman of Kerala’s Chalachithra Academy following allegations of sexual misconduct by a Bengali actress.
Mr. Satheesan said in a press conference in this capital city on Saturday that he agreed with Saji Cherian the culture minister who said that Ranjith was one of the most influential personalities in Malayalam cinema but should step down after sexually harrassing a Bengali woman actor.“We need to look into these allegations against Mr. Chen,” he added.
Though innocents were not supposed to be humiliated by it, yet its pro-women orientation remained intact. The government’s stance on not probing into the charges leveled against it had cast a gloom over the whole film industry,” said Mr. Satheesan.
He also ridiculed at Minister Cherian for bringing up solar scam case pertaining to ex-CM Oommen Chandy. “This shows an admission of guilt; thus, the minister argued that slapping a case against late Chandy turned futile”, he quipped.
Due to this reason, on top of other things stated by Hema Committee report requiring survivors’ complaints before charging them as cases, Mr. Cherian should resign from being a minister since his positions “contravened his office”, according to Mr. Satheesan.
