Days after resigning from the president's post of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) amid the Hema Committee report, actor Mohanlal on Saturday said that "wrongdoers should be punished".
Addressing the media for the first time since the release of the expert panel report, which brought to the light allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation of women professionals in the Malayalam cinema industry.
The Kireedam actor hailed the government's "good decision" of releasing the Hema Committee report.
While referring to the sexual misconduct and assault allegations against some members of the Association, Mohanlal said, "Wrongdoers should be punished if there is evidence against them.
He also said that he is not part of any power group in Malayalam cinema, adding that he is not aware of the existence of any such group.
"We request you not to put all the focus on AMMA (Association of Malayalam Movie Artists). Investigation is going on. Please don't destroy the industry," he said.
Malayalam cinema is a huge industry where thousands of people work, Mohanlal said, the actor's association AMMA could not address issued that cropped up there.
"We welcome the Hema Committee report. It was the right decision by the government to release that report. AMMA cannot answer all the questions. These questions should be asked from everyone. This is a very hardworking industry. Many people are involved in it. But everyone cannot be blamed for this," Mohanlal said.
Notably, along with Mohanlal, the entire governing body of the film association also resigned from the executive panel, leading to its dissolution.
After the release of the Hema Committee report, a series of allegations of sexual assault, rape and human rights abuses against major names in the Malayalam film industry including veteran actor Siddique and filmmaker Ranjith Balakrishnan were highlighted.
As per the statement from AMMA, the the governing body decided to hand in their resignations due to their "moral responsibility" and "in light of allegations made by some actors against some of the committee".
The Hema Committee was constituted by the Kerala government after an actress assault case in 2017.
