Hema committee report: Kerala HC raps govt for inaction, asks SIT to hand over full report

The Special Bench of the Kerala High Court has directed the SIT to ascertain whether any cognizable offense has been identified and what action can be taken. | Photo credit: RK Nithin

A division bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday (September 10, 2024) ordered the government to hand over the Hema Committee report on the problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry, slamming the Kerala government for not taking any action so far. Submit the complete report of the Hema Committee to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) and submit a report on what action can be taken based on it.

A special bench comprising Justice AK Jaishankaran Nambiar and Justice CS Sudha gave the order when it came up for hearing several PILs filed on the Hema Committee report.

The bench directed the SIT to inform the report whether any offense has been identified and what action can be taken. The court added that the report of the committee produced by the Advocate General would be opened only after receiving the report and the court would then examine whether the action or inaction of the SIT was justified.

Audio and video recording

The court also directed that the audio and video recordings forming part of the report may be handed over to the SIT.

The court orally observed that it was “shocked by the alarming inaction” on the part of the Kerala government to take no action on the report. The court said that although the report was submitted in 2019, no action was taken based on it.

“When the report revealed such a problem in the system, what was the minimum the state government should have done? What are you doing to solve the problems of women not only in the film industry but in the society? The situation is bad, especially in states like ours, where women are the majority. When the majority of the population was in trouble, why are you silent?” asked the court.

The court also sought to know why registration of offenses was unnecessary even though several crimes were described in the report. “Primarily offenses are created under IPC and POCSO Act. Why was no action taken?” asked the court.

Advocate General’s opposition

The Advocate General submitted that the report only described the incidents and did not reveal the identity of the victims or the perpetrators, nor mention the time or place of the incidents. The committee specifically recommended that the report should not be published and it sent a letter to the Department of Cultural Affairs directing it to keep the report confidential, as it contained details of sexual harassment, harassment and abuse disclosed by women in private. Camera operation.

He submitted that no offense was registered based on the report as it only described instances of incidents and the committee assured the victims of confidentiality.