‘Inaction alarming’: Kerala HC slams state govt over Hema Committee report

The division bench of Acting Chief Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and CS Sudha said: “We are concerned about the inaction of the state government including filing of FIR, when the report, which looked into the issues in the Malayalam film industry, was submitted to the state police chief in February 2021.”

When the government pleader informed the court that the SIT is yet to see the full copy of the report, the court directed the state government to hand over the unredacted copy of the report and all related documents to the Special Investigation Team — constituted to look into the fresh complaints from women film professionals. “Let the SIT go through its threadbare and see whether any offences are made out, cognizable or otherwise and take action. What are the actions taken out are to be reported to the court in two weeks”.

The court said once the action taken report is submitted, the court will go through the full report of the Hema committee. “Then we will see whether the SIT action is justifiable or unjustifiable. This is without any prejudice on actions already initiated on complaints.’’

After the Hema committee report was released on August 19, a few women professionals had come out in the media saying that they were sexually exploited by men in the industry. Subsequently, the state government had formed the SIT to look into fresh allegations of sexual abuse. So far, 22 cases have been registered by the SIT based on various complaints of abuse that happened over the last several years.

However, the SIT did not look into the Hema Committee Report and see whether any offences had figured in it. The high court directive now brings the entire report under the perusal of the SIT.

On August 22, acting upon a Public Interest Litigation, the high court had directed the government to furnish before it in a sealed cover the full, unredacted report of the Justice Hema Committee. The court had stated that if any cognizable offences are disclosed to the committee, whether criminal action is necessary or not will have to be decided by the court. Accordingly, the state government furnished the report in a sealed cover to the court.

When the matter came up for hearing Tuesday, the court asked why the state has been sitting on the report. “We are taken aback by the alarming inaction of the Government. This delay cannot be justified. Bare minimum was expected on the part of the government, which should have acted upon the report and its recommendations,” it said.

It further said: “When the state government is apprised of the existence of a malady in society and commitment of offences, what is the bare minimum expected from the state to do. When the state government is confronted with certain practices derogatory to the dignity of women, existing in society, what is the bare minimum the government has to do? The DGP did not do anything since the report was handed over to him in February, 2021. We are concerned about the position of the women in Kerala, not just about the women in the film industry”.

The division bench did not agree with the government’s stand that the hema committee report is only narration of incidents. “How do you know that the witnesses in the report are not interesting filing cases. If they are not interested, you can drop the proceedings,” said the court.