Kerala govt protects those responsible for sexual exploitation in film industry: UDF

The opposition Congress-led UDF party on Friday continued to attack the Left government in Kerala, accusing it of shielding those responsible for the cases of sexual exploitation, drug abuse and criminalisation of the film industry exposed in the Justice Hema Commission report.

The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, VD Satheesan, demanded that a special team headed by a woman IPS officer should investigate the cases revealed in the report. He also accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of lying. He said Justice Hema did not want the findings to be made public.

Satheesan alleged that Justice Hema had only said that the report should be made public in line with the Supreme Court’s directive that information of victims of sexual exploitation should not be made public.

“The CM has misinterpreted and lied,” he alleged during a protest programme organised by the Mahila Congress in Kochi.

The allegation was denied by CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan, who said the Ministry of Culture had Justice Hema’s letter in its possession.

Govindan, addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, reiterated what the CM had said a few days ago about the release of the report and the steps taken by the government based on it.

He also said that the matter is now before the Kerala High Court and further action will be taken as per the court’s directions.

Speaking in Kochi, Satheesan accused the state government, the home minister and the culture ministers in the previous and current Left governments of covering up the report’s findings for over four years.

He stated that the government has an obligation to initiate a case and conduct an investigation when a crime has been committed.