Telugu actress Sri Reddy’s protest has not been in vain… The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has served notices to the Information and Broadcasting ministry and the Telangana government, asking for detailed reports on the alleged sexual exploitation of women in Tollywood.
TV presenter-turned-actress Sri Reddy has been making shocking allegations about the casting couch menace in the Telugu film industry. On Saturday she took her protest to the next level, by staging a dharna outside the Movie Artistes’ Association (MAA) headquarters ‘Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce’, vowing not to budge until she got a solution. Then she did the unthinkable — stripping right there in protest.
She later explained, “This is the only way I can get them to listen to me. I have had to strip myself nude in front of several people in the film industry who promised work. Yet, I got no roles. I have been shouting from the rooftops about the injustice that has been meted out to me and to several other women in the film industry and yet, I have not got any response from MAA. So I decided to strip publicly.”
She has opened a can of worms with her leaks involving known names down South. After making shocking allegations against producer Suresh Babu Daggubati's son Abhiram Daggubati and leaking intimate pictures of herself with him, Sri has released screenshots of her private chats with ‘Indian Idol’ fame singer Sreeram, YouTube sensation Viva Harsha and popular writer Kona Venkat.
Now the NHRC has taken serious note of the lack of a committee to address sexual harassment complaints from women artistes in the film industry. The commission has declared that the reported ban on Sri Reddy and warning others from working with her are an infringement on her right to livelihood and living a life with dignity.
The Centre and the state government have been asked to inform the NHRC about the availability or proposal to set up a mechanism to deal with the subject. It has also pointed out that while legal action against the actress was taken under section 294 of IPC it is not clear if the authorities have probed the allegations made by Sri regarding the casting couch and sexual harassment.
