Kerala High Court intervention helped survivors open up

KOCHI: On August 13, Justice VG Arun dismissed a film producer’s plea against the release of a substantial portion of the Justice Hema Commission report. Soon after, appeals were filed before a division bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice S Manu, challenging the single-judge order. However, the division bench also refused to interfere with the release of the report. Finally, the cultural affairs department released the report on August 19.

Following its publication, public sentiment rose to register criminal cases against those named in the report. This in turn led to a petition before the division bench to initiate criminal proceedings against the perpetrators.

When the Supreme Court stepped in to protect victims of sexual exploitation in the film industry and took action on the Hema Commission report, the state government was forced to set up a seven-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the complaints of sexual harassment as a face-saving measure.

The Appeals Chamber noted: “How these survivors of sexual exploitation can be protected and what measures can be taken against the perpetrators of the crime is a matter for this court to consider.”

However, criticism came from various quarters, who claimed that the SIT investigation did not take into account the statements of the survivors before the Hema committee. The High Court’s decision on September 10 will be crucial in this matter.