Kochi: The opposition Congress has stepped up its attack on the CPM-led state government over the alleged reluctance to file police cases based on the findings of the Justice Hema Commission report which brought light rampant incidents of sexual abuse in the Malayalam film industry.
The Leader of the Opposition has written a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister for Film and Culture Saji Cherian demanding a comprehensive inquiry into the allegations while the Mahila Congress staged a protest in Kochi seeking action against the culprits based on the report. Satheesan said the Congress was approaching the issue from a feminist perspective.
In the letter, the opposition leader demanded that a special team under the leadership of a woman IPS officer be formed and an investigation conducted on the basis of the statements given by the victims and the evidence submitted.
“In the legal system, criminal offence is considered as an offence not against an individual but against society. Therefore, it is a requirement of the legal system that criminals should be punished. There should be a 'zero tolerance' approach from the government against those who commit violence including sexual exploitation against women and children. Despite the Hema Committee submitted its report in 2019 exposing serious sexual crimes including POCSO, the government's decision to shelve the report itself without conducting an investigation is a challenge to the legal system. The government should not forget that concealment or non-reporting of an offence under the POCSO Act is also a criminal offence,” Satheesan wrote in the letter.
“Under Section 154 of the CrPC and Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, if a 'cognizable offence' is established, the police must register an FIR,” he said, accusing the government of shielding the perpetrators of the crimes by not booking them.
It is also brought to your notice that the government has kept it a secret for four and a half years despite knowing that a series of criminal offences had been committed against women, which is a criminal offence under Section 199 of the Indian Penal Code.
Addressing the Mahila Congress protest, Satheesan said the government should answer why paragraphs 97-107 were omitted from the report without an order from the government or the Information Commission.
He slammed Minister Saji Cherian and his predecessor A K Balan for their justification of non-action by the government. “The former cultural minister says that nothing could be done because the report was received during the pandemic. So the government will not prosecute whatever crimes committed during COVID-19? Minister Saji Cherian said that he did not read certain parts of the report. The opposition is not approaching this issue politically. We are approaching this issue as part of Congress and UDF's strong pro-women stance. No matter how big those on the other side are, we are with the victim women. History will judge our stance as the most important feminist position taken by an opposition in the political history of Kerala,” he said.