Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has decided to release the report of Justice K Hema committee which studied issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry following the High Court order. The report will be released on Saturday after removing 63 out of 295 pages that could impact privacy of the individuals. While ordering the release of the report, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday upheld the right to privacy and directed to release the report without breaching the privacy of the individuals. Based on this, 63 pages were removed from the report.
The government has asked the people who filed an application under the Right to Information Act to receive the report from the respective offices on Saturday at 11 am. On Tuesday, the Kerala High Court asked the government to release the report and dismissed a plea challenging the State Information Commission's order directing the release of the Justice K Hema Committee report. While dismissing the plea, the court said that the petitioner, Sajimon Parayil, has "failed to demonstrate as to how his legal or fundamental rights were affected by the impugned order" of the commission. While dismissing the plea, the court said that Kerala was the first state to initiate measures to alleviate grievances regarding harassment and discrimination raised by women working in cinema.
On July 24, the court stayed the release of the report for a week and the interim order was extended from time to time. The interim order was last extended on August 6. Parayil, a film producer, had challenged the Information Commission's July 5 order directing the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) to reasonably disseminate the information in the report while ensuring that it does not compromise the privacy of individuals.
"While providing attested copies of the Justice K Hema Committee report, the SPIO should ensure that the materials do not lead to the identification of individuals referenced in the said report or compromise their privacy," it had said. The Information Commissioner, in his order, however, had asked the SPIO not to disclose the details of paragraph 96 contained on page 49 and paragraphs 165 to 196 from pages 81 to 100.
The committee was formed after the 2017 actress assault case involving actor Dileep, to study issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malayalam cinema. Even though the report was filed in 2019, the government is yet to release the details as it is suspected to contain sensitive information. The actress-victim who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films was allegedly abducted and molested in her car for two hours by some of the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017, and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress. There are 10 accused in the case. Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, was also arrested and sent to jail. He was released after the court granted him bail. The case is pending.
(With PTI inputs)
