A junior artist has accused Baburaj, an actor-producer in the Malayalam film industry, of raping her in 2019, The Indian Express reported on Monday.
The artist alleged that Baburaj had offered her a role in a movie and asked her to meet him at his residence saying that the film’s production controller and other technicians will be there.
“I went to him expecting that he would recommend me to get a better career in the industry,” she said. “When I reached his house, there was nobody.”
The producer told the woman that others were expected to come soon and asked her to rest until then.
“He gave me a room,” she said. “Later, he invited me for food. When I opened the door, he entered the room and locked it from inside. He started talking vulgarly and led me to the cot and raped me.”
Baburaj, who is the joint general secretary of Kerala’s Association of Malayalam Movie Artists, denied the allegation. He said that he will take legal action against the junior artist, The Indian Express reported.
Several women working in the Malayalam film industry have come forward with their experiences of sexual misconduct by their male colleagues following the release of the Justice Hema committee report on sexual harassment and gender inequality on August 19.
On Monday, actor Minu Muneer levelled allegations of sexual misconduct, and physical and verbal assault against several co-actors and technicians in the Malayalam film industry, including actor and Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA M Mukesh.
On Sunday, senior actor Siddique resigned as the general secretary of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists after an actor accused him of raping her when she was younger.
Malayalam director Ranjith resigned as the chairman of the state-run Kerala Chalachitra Academy, days after actor Sreelekha Mitra accused him of sexually harassing her in 2009.
On Sunday, the Kerala government formed a seven-member panel of high-ranking police officers to investigate the allegations of sexual abuse against several prominent members of the Malayalam film industry.
Also read:
- Hema committee report on Malayalam cinema: ‘Incident by incident, many icons started crumbling’
- Has rape outrage brought us to a dead end?
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