Hema Committee report: Kerala State Information Commission defers decision to release redacted portions-OxBig News Network

The Hema Committee report being submitted to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by the panel members on December 31, 2019.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

The State Information Commission (SIC) in Kerala on Saturday (December 7, 2024) deferred the decision to release redacted portions of the 2017 Hema Committee report, which documented in incriminating detail systemic sexual exploitation, workplace harassment and gender inequality in the Malayalam film industry.

A last-minute complaint from an individual against releasing the redacted portions of the sensitive report precluded the SIC from taking a final call on the matter. 

Several Right to Information (RTI) activists had moved the SIC, accusing the Kerala government of showing “overzealousness” in censoring essential parts of the damning report to allegedly protect “high-profile and influential wrongdoers”. 

They pointed out that the SIC had asked the government to blue-pencil 29 paragraphs regarding the identities of victims and alleged violators, citing privacy issues and future legal implications. 

However, the RTI activists alleged that the government overstepped the SIC’s directive and arbitrarily expurgated 130 paragraphs without assigning any reason. The SIC had also rebuked the officers for overstepping their brief. 

The Hema Committee report’s “belated” publication sparked off a controversial reckoning of the “misogyny” in the movie industry. It prompted many persons, including aspiring actors, junior artistes, and performers from other States, to relate their “traumatic experiences” on conventional and social media. 

The “disclosures” triggered a political controversy, with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempting to put the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the dock on the charge of pussyfooting around the Hema Committee report for seven years to save influential figures in the Malayalam filmdom. 

UDF and BJP workers singled out Minister for Culture Saji Cherian and A.K. Balan, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Central committee member and former Culture Minister, for ignoring the Hema Committee report and not initiating prosecution as mandated by the law. 

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan termed the CPI(M)’s advocacy of women’s rights based on the universal principle of gender equality “a farce.” Opposition activists held street protests, burning Mr. Cherian in effigy. 

Government’s defence

The government sought to defend itself by stating that the Hema Committee was not a judicial commission but merely a forum for inquiry. Hence, the government could not table the report in the Kerala Assembly or initiate further action. 

Nevertheless, under intense pressure from civil society and Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), an organisation championing workplace safety and the rights of women in the Malayalam movie industry, the government constituted a special investigation team (SIT) comprising women IPS officers to initiate prosecution based on the statements of those who deposed before the Hema Committee. 

The SIT has so far booked several actors, including a legislator, on charges of rape based on victims’ statements. The controversy also led to the resignation of film director and actor Ranjith from the post of chairperson of the State Chalachitra Academy.