Jani Master arrested in Goa in Pocso case

The Telangana police on Thursday arrested Shaik Jani Basha, who is a choreographer popularly known as Jani Master in Tollywood, under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act following allegations of sexual assault by his 21-year-old female employee.
Based on the survivor’s complaint on Wednesday, the Narsingi police of Cyberabad Commissionerate arrested him from Goa. In a 40-page document, she alleged that Jani had been harassing and sexually assaulting her over the past six years since she started working with him, providing evidence for the same.
“He will be brought to Hyderabad from Goa after getting a transit remand,” a police officer was quoted as saying.
Following the complaint, Jani Master, who is a member of the Jana Sena party founded by actor Pawan Kalyan, was suspended by the Telugu Film Chambers and Commerce and a workers’ union. On Wednesday, Jana Sena had asked him to refrain from attending any party event.
Professionally, Jani had been a part of the choreography teams for popular movies such as Baahubali and Pushpa: The Rise, besides choreographing several other films.
When the allegation was first made on Monday, Jani had refuted them.
The survivor claims to have met Jani for the first time in 2017 and was offered the job of an assistant choreographer two years later. She alleged that the sexual assault took place subsequently in a Mumbai hotel, where she was staying with Jani and two other male dancers during a show. She also alleged that Jani threatened of physical violence in case she filed a complaint.
Telangana Women Commission took up her case and Nerella Sharada, its chairperson, asked the police to investigate her complaint on Wednesday. “The commission has issued orders to the police to provide protection to her and a monitoring committee will be set up to oversee such cases in the film industry,” she told reporters on Wednesday.
A panel formed by the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce has also launched a probe into allegations of sexual harassment against him. Tammareddy Bharadwaj, a member of the committee, said the panel will have to submit a report on the issue within 90 days from the date of receiving the complaint from the survivor.
Damodar Prasad, the head of the sexual harassment redressal panel constituted by the Film Chamber, said a communication was sent to Telugu Film and TV Dancers and Dance Directors Association to not allow Jani Master to discharge duties as its president until he is cleared of all the charges.
Jani’s arrest comes amid allegations of sexual harassment of female actors and workers in Kerala film industry following the release of a partly redacted Hema committee report. In Kerala, actors and directors such as Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Mukesh and Siddique have been accused of sexual harassment since the report was made public. All of them have denied the allegations terming them baseless.
Following the storm in the Kerala film industry, the Karnataka government decided to conduct a survey in the Kannada film industry to find whether there were any instances of sexual harassment faced by the artists working here. Karnataka Women Commission chairperson Nagalakshmi Chawdhary said a decision on constituting a committee to investigate sexual harassment will be taken following the findings of the survey.