#MeToo: Producers Guild of India amps up efforts to tackle cases

Within a week of setting up a special committee on sexual harassment, the Producers Guild of India has made it mandatory for all members to sign a declaration affirming that laws around sexual harassment of women at workplace are instituted and implemented.

Last week, the Producers Guild appointed a new committee, with producer Sneha Rajani as its head, to address the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace within the film industry.

It called for an extraordinary general meeting to amend its by-laws, as a result of which it has been made compulsory for all existing and new members to sign a declaration that affirms that 'The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013' and any amendment/successor act thereof has been instituted and implemented in their workplaces, as prescribed by the law.

"This is to be signed and submitted by every Guild member within 30 days of receipt of the declaration from the Guild. Within these 30 days, the Guild will schedule a series of workshops to be conducted by specialized external agencies, which will enable its members to institute and implement these robust processes at their workplaces, if they have not already done so.

"Failure to submit the declaration to the Guild by the end of 30 days from its receipt, would result in expulsion from the Guild," a statement said.

The members will also require to affirm that if any nominated representative of a Guild member is adjudged to have engaged in sexual harassment by the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), the Guild has the right to immediately expel the concerned nominated representative.

"The committee will enable all Guild members to institute and implement robust processes in their workplaces to ensure the highest standards of safety for employees and crew members, whether in offices or on the sets of productions. The Guild is committed to working on a sustained and continuing basis to make industry workplaces safe spaces for everyone who works here," the statement added.

The efforts have been amped up in view of the rapidly increasing number of names that are coming out in the open as part of the raging #MeToo movement in the country. Nana Patekar, Sajid Khan, Vikas Bahl, Alok Nath, Rajat Kapoor, Kailash Kher and Subhash Kapoor are some of the people who have been named.

--IANS

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