On December 6, artist Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari of 'Pushpa' fame was taken into custody by the Panjagutta police under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly driving his "girlfriend" to suicide recently. As per the allegations made by the deceased girl's father, Jagadeesh was harassing her as her live-in partner. The girl was working as a junior artist in Tollywood.
Singer Chinmayi Sripaada is of the opinion that the victim couldn't resort to a redressal committee within the industry probably because she was not aware of her rights. Had she been aware, she might have complained against Jagadeesh. "The Telugu Film Chamber is one of the first film bodies in the country that has a Sexual Harassment Redressal Committee. Had the woman known her rights and that she had legal help, and that she didn’t have to be scared - she would have felt safer. Today another young woman is dead because a man felt it was easy to blackmail her," Chinmayi wrote on Twitter.
The Film Chamber needs to step in to raise awareness levels among the women working in the Telugu film industry.
