Kochi: A single bench of the Kerala High Court on Monday rejected actor Ranjini's appeal to stay the release of the report that looked into the working condition of women in Malayalam film industry.
A division bench of the court had earlier dismissed the senior actor's plea seeking a review of the report before its release to the public citing technical reasons. The report is prepared by a commission led by Justice K Hema.
Noting that Ranjini was not a party to the writ petition filed by producer Sajimon Parayil (in which the impugned judgment was delivered), the division bench comprising Justice A Muhamed Musatque and Justice S Manu allowed her to file a fresh writ petition raising her grievances. The Court stated that it will direct the registry to number the writ petition, if it is being filed today to place it before the single judge. The court added that it will hear the writ appeal filed by producer Sajimon Parayil challenging the order of the single judge.
Ranjini was among those who had given statements to the Hema Committee during its inquiry. In her plea, she claimed that she holds the right to know how the committee recorded her statement in the report. “I'm not anyone's mouthpiece. I have the legal right to know how my statement has been recorded on the report. I was the first to give a statement to the committee about the problems faced by women in the film industry. Because I really want a tribunal for issues faced by women in the industry," she said earlier.
On Thursday, the government announced that the report would be released after removing 63 pages from the 295-page report that could impact the privacy of the individuals mentioned in it. The Kerala High Court also withheld the decision.
The Hema 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-survivor 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 LiveLaw inputs.)
