KOCHI: On August 13, Justice V G Arun dismissed the plea of a film producer against the release of a substantial portion of the Justice Hema Committee report. Soon after, appeals were filed before a Kerala High Court division bench comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice S Manu, challenging the single judge’s order. However, the division bench too declined to interfere with the release of the report. Finally, the cultural affairs department released the report on August 19.
After its release, public sentiment has risen to register criminal cases against those mentioned in the report. This in turn led to a petition before the division bench to initiate criminal proceedings against the perpetrators.
With the High Court intervening to protect survivors of sexual exploitation in the film industry and to act on the Hema Committee report, the state government was forced to form a seven-member Special Investigating Team (SIT) to look into the complaints of sexual harassment as a face-saving measure.
The division bench observed: “How to protect these survivors of sexual exploitation and what action can be taken against the perpetrators of the crime is something that this court needs to address.”
However, criticism sprang up from various quarters, alleging that the SIT investigation is not considering the depositions of the survivors before the Hema Committee. The High Court’s decision on September 10 will be crucial in this issue.