VISAKHAPATNAM: Women organisations from the city on Wednesday started a 48-hour hunger strike demanding the arrest of film director Ram Gopal Varma immediately for making derogatory comments against the city- based activist. The activists flayed the city police and Women Commission members of the state for not reacting to the issue though it’s almost a month since it happened.
Speaking during the protest, a woman activist, M Lakshmi, said that even though they had given a representation to the police a month ago, no action was initiated by the city police, not even a FIR was filed. She said that the police had been citing various reasons and delaying the case. Lakshmi said the Telangana state police had taken the RGV issue seriously and already started taking action by invoking the IT Act.
She also said that it’s even worse to see the Women Commission members did not even react when the director had made derogatory comments on a woman activist in a live TV show. Meanwhile, another activist Mani, on whom the comments were made, said that she had gone to city police commissioner T Yoganand after the incident, who forwarded the case to the MVP Police.
Meanwhile, the MVP police registered a case against director Ram Gopal Varma following complaint by All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) member Mani. The complainant mentioned that RGV had made derogatory comments on her during a live debate in an electronic media channel on January 18.
MVP PS inspector M Mahesh said that following the complaint, they registered the case under Sections 504 and 509 against the director. Investigation is on. Mani and other woman organisations had already given representation to MVP PS last month but no case was registered by the police.