*HYDERABAD: Sri Reddy, the Indian actress* who stripped naked outside afilm chamber office to make her complaint heard last week, today receivedsupport from the country’s top human rights body that asked the Telanganagovernment to probe allegations of sexual exploitation and casting couch inthe Telugu film industry.

The National Human Rights Commissionlink>also appearedto have taken a dim view of how the government charged her with obscenitybut hadn’t acted on her complaints.

Sri Reddy had last Saturday stripped in front of the Movie Artistes’Associationlink>buildingin the city to protest women from other parts of the country being givenpreference. She had later alleged that outsiders were more willing to tradesex for movie roles.

The association had responded by declaring that she would not be given themembershiplink>thatwould have helped her get roles.

“But it is nowhere mentioned, if action on the serious allegations ofcasting couch and sexual harassment, levelled by her, has been taken by theauthorities,” the commission said in a statement.

The human rights body said this made it look like the action taken againsther was “an attempt to muzzle the voice of whistle blower”, both by themovie association and the state government.

Besides, it observed that the reported ban on the actress from working inthe film industry was “violation of her right to livelihood and live a lifewith dignity”.

In its notice to the central and state government, the commission alsounderlined that the film industry should have a committee to probe sexualharassment at work places.

“The issues raised by the actress demand action on part of the stategovernment,” the rights body said, calling for a committee to address andredress the grievances of female actors and employees in case of any sexualharassment at the work place, the Telugu Film Industry, in this case.