Sneha Rajani, Ekta Kapoor in committee to tackle sexual harassment issues

Mumbai: The Producers Guild of India has appointed Sneha Rajani, Head, Sony Pictures Networks Productions, to lead a committee to address the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace within the film industry.

"The Producers Guild of India is committed to work towards making workplaces in the industry safe spaces for everyone. In this regard, a special committee has been instituted within the Guild to address the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace within our industry," read a statement issued on Wednesday.

The committee also includes industry experts Apoorva Mehta, Ekta Kapoor, Fazila Allana, Jyoti Deshpande, Kiran Rao, Kulmeet Makkar, Madhu Bhojwani, Priti Shahani, Rohan Sippy, Siddharth Roy Kapur and Vijay Singh.

The first meeting of the committee was held on Wednesday.

It was resolved to immediately ensure the members of the Guild were sent a copy of the Gazette of India with notifications issued on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace, so that they may implement these practices in their establishments at the earliest, if they have not done so already.A

They decided to organize specialised workshops with the support of professional agencies, to guide members in how to implement robust processes and best practices to deal with sexual harassment at their workplaces - whether in their offices or on the sets of their productions.A

The Guild will also organize multiple sessions of these workshops over the coming weeks and months, to enable all members and their teams to participate.A

The special committee that has been set in place will meet frequently in the coming days to ensure that this is an ongoing and sustained effort, that will lead to a safer environment for all members of our industry, the statement read further.

This move comes in the wake of the #MeToo movement, triggered in Bollywood two weeks by the resurgence of Tanushree Dutta's allegation that Nana Patekar sexually harassed her on the set of a film 10 years ago. A slew of actors and comedians have been named and shamed.