Hema Committee report: National Women’s Commission to visit Kerala, record statements

The National Commission for Women is all set to take stringent action based on the Hema Committee report. A member of the commission has confirmed that they will visit Kerala to record statements directly from the survivors.

Though the commission sent a letter to the Kerala government on August 31 requesting the full Hema Committee report, there was no response from the latter. The letter was sent to the Kerala Chief Secretary based on a complaint filed by BJP leaders Sandeep Vachaspathy and PR Sivasankar. Following this, the Commission decided to visit Kerala and record statements from the survivors directly.

The commission has also encouraged anyone to approach them directly with complaints. A special committee will soon be formed to examine the issue, and further action will be taken based on the statements gathered. With the National Women’s Commission stepping in, alongside the Kerala High Court’s involvement, discussions around the Hema Committee report are expected to intensify once again.

The Kerala government constituted the Hema committee in 2019 in the wake of the 2017 actor assault case to analyse the issues faced by women in the Malayalam cinema field at the request of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC).

Following the allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation cropping up against several actors and directors in the wake of the report being made public, the state government on August 25 announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team to probe them.