Collective pressure moved Film Institute to conduct investigation into sexual harassment case!

A final-year student at the Kolkata-based Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) accused a staff member of sexual harassment. The institute failed to take action on this case for six months after the initial complaint was filed, and also reportedly intimidated the complainant into taking her case back. We quickly responded to this by starting a campaign, during the same time the complainant pulled in the ICC to take a look into the sexual harassment case. This ICC inquiry – supposed to bring justice – instead, led to the further inaction, missed deadlines, and the complainant being body shamed.

This campaign resulted in several significant milestones. For one, within a day of our members sending emails to the director of the institute, the case was reopened. Further, our efforts got the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to intervene. We also received support from then- Counselor at the National Commission for Women (NCW), and Actor and Activist Amala Akkineni on this issue. Furthermore, it reached the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcast (I&B) who directly reviewed the case. The department informed Jhatkaa.org that they “will keep an eye on the SRFTI case.”!

The institute reportedly intimidated the complainant into taking her case back, following which they had been sitting on this case for six months after the complaint was filed. This campaign started in February 2019 when the complainant pulled in the ICC to take a look into the sexual harassment case. The inquiry – which was supposed to bring the case to justice – led to the complainant’s body-shaming and missed deadlines.

This campaign was full of important milestones. For one, within a day of our members sending emails to the director, she re-opened the case. We even got the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to intervene. We received much support from Ananya Singh, Counselor at the National Commission for Women (NCW). We also had Actor and Activist Amala Akkineni vouching for justice. The complainant’s voice even reached Mr. Ashok Kumar R Parmar, Joint Secretary (JS)  (Films), Ministry of Information and Broadcast (I&B) who directly reviewed the case. The department later informed Jhatkaa that they “will keep an eye on the SRFTI case.”

This campaign was a huge win for us because it was the result of collective pressure and media outreach that our campaign moved so far.