Tanushree Dutta calls Hema Committee Report 'useless': 'People like Nana Patekar, Dileep are...'

Justice K Hema Committee’s 235 page report, which was released on 19th August, turned out to be a shocker as it shared revelations on the sexual harassment of women in the Malayalam film industry uncovering 17 forms of exploitation against women, including casting couch, sexual favours, rape threats and others.

Many actresses like Parvathy, Revathy and Ranjini shared strong reaction on the report. However, Tanushree Dutta, who led the #MeToo movement in 2018 when she Nana Patekar of sexual misconduct on the sets of Horn Ok Pleassss, called the report ‘useless’.

“These committees and reports, I don’t understand them. I think they’re useless. It took them seven years to make a report on what happened in 2017?” Tanushree said while talking to News18 Showsha.

Referring to Vishakha committee, she added, “What’s the point of this new report anyway? All they had to do was arrest the accused and enforce a strong law and order system. I remember hearing about the Vishakha Committee, which came up with so many guidelines and prepared pages and pages of reports, but what happened after that? The names of the committees just keep changing.”

“People like Nana and Dileep are narcissistic psychopaths. There’s no cure for them. Only a vicious and vengeful man can do what they did. I don’t care about these committees. I have no trust in this system. It feels like with these reports and committees, they’re just wasting our time rather than doing the real work. Having a safe workplace is a basic right for a woman—or any human being, for that matter,” she continued.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan said that government is working towards making a law to ensure the safety of women following the release of report. Reacting to that Tanushree said, “All this is just talk. Action is needed. Who even follows all this paperwork? Even if they come up with a comprehensive cinema law, those who want to break the law will still break it. These predators are all mentally ill. They aren’t in their right minds, yet they manage to find support among other crazy and psychotic people.”

When questioned about Dileep still getting opportunities despite the allegations, Dutta replied, “That’s the weirdest thing. There’s no compassion. When it comes to actresses, male actors are prejudiced. They look down on their female counterparts as second-class citizens. You’re supposed to stay in line, behave a certain way, not open your mouth too much, and not complain about anything. If something really bad happens, we’re supposed to accept it as our fate without making a big issue out of it.”

She added, “People don’t look at actresses as human beings but as morally corrupt entities—which is a very rudimentary perception—who don’t have the right to dignity. We aren’t asking to be treated like queens, but we have the right to be treated with dignity and the right to protest. They use their male ego to reduce you to someone who’s a nuisance.”