Rights panel orders government to take action

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the state government expressed reluctance to take further action based on the Hema Commission report, the State Human Rights Commission has directed the government to investigate human rights violations in the Malayalam film industry.

In the backdrop of a complaint, commission member K Baijunath directed the chief secretary and the state police chief to go through the Hema commission report and the complaint in detail and submit an explanation within two weeks on the action to be taken. In its order, the commission noted that going by the Hema commission report and the complaint, there were widespread rights violations in the sector. The order was passed on a complaint by V Devadas, a resident of Kannur, who sought action against those behind the rights violations mentioned in the report. The commission will take up the issue at its meeting in Kannur in September.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan has urged the state government to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the Hema Commission report. In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Cultural Affairs, Satheesan said that a special investigation team headed by a woman IPS officer should be formed to probe the matter.

In his letter, the Congress leader pointed out that the report has revealed significant accounts of criminal offences, including sexual exploitation and other bitter experiences, faced by women in the field. What has emerged from the report are serious violations under the law. According to the legal system, a criminal offence is defined as an action that is not only against an individual but against the entire society. Therefore, punishing the guilty is required under the system, he said in the letter.

He urged the government to maintain zero tolerance towards those who commit sexual violence against women and children. Sitting on a report for so long, which lists serious offences, including those for which Pocso charges can be filed, amounts to challenging the justice system. According to CrPC Section 154, the police have to register an FIR as soon as there is a cognizable offence, he said.

Senior BJP leader V Muraleedharan alleged that the state government was trying to sabotage action on the report. Given that the actors welcomed the report, the government should ideally take the next step. The Pinarayi government has tried to give the impression that it is standing with the victims, while at the same time it seems to want to protect the predators.