MeToo In Mollywood: Special HC Bench To Hear Cases Of Hema Committee Report

Hema Committee Report: It brought a storm in the Malayalam film industry with actresses coming forward and filing a sexual misconduct case against prominent figures of the industry, including Siddique, Ranjith, Mukesh M, Jayasurya and VK Prakash. While SIT is probing the cases, the Kerala High Court, on Thursday, chaired the bench while considering the petition of producer Sajimon Parail.

Special bench to look into the #MeToo cases

Kerala High Court has constituted a special bench with lady judges as members to hear cases relating to the Justice Hema Committee Report, per Live Law. The government had been directed to present the full version of the Hema committee report. It was directed to be produced in a sealed cover. The report will be subjected to detailed scrutiny by the court. The bench will also consider the bail pleas in the high-profile complaints and the pleas seeking further investigation. Actors, including Siddique and director VK Prakash, have filed anticipatory bail applications.

Some of the cases that can be presented before the Special Bench include a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking criminal action against those accused of sexual misconduct in the report. The court in that case has ordered the state to submit a single copy of the complete report, without any redactions, in a sealed cover.

Why was Hema Committee Report buried for 4 years?

In an interview with ANI, Radhikaa Sarathkumar shared that the Hema Committee was started by Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), constituting Padmapriya, Parvathy and Revathi, among others. They stood up for women's rights and working conditions in the Malayalam film industry. However, after the report was submitted, it was not published and was handed over to the government where it was lying for four years till WCC went to court. "The court had to tell them to release the findings. So once it came out, a lot of allegations came. And it has gone out of proportion in Kerala with naming the artists who are in the top bracket of the Malayalam film industry," she added.

NCW demand a full version of the Hema Committee report

A few days ago, the National Commission of Women wrote to the state government to publish the full version of the report. According to reports, BJP leaders PR Shivashankar and Sandeep Vaachaspathi filed a complaint which prompted an intervention of the National Commission For Women (NCW) regarding the disclosure of the Hema Committee Report in full. In response to the complaint, a letter has been sent to the Kerala Chief Secretary to produce a copy of the full report.