The Kerala government’s lack of action on the Hema Commission report is scandalous

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Kerala government should be ashamed of themselves for not taking action on the Justice Hema Commission report on exploitation in the Malayalam film industry.

The report has not yet been made public by the government, but is being distributed after some individuals obtained a copy through the Right to Information Act.

The findings of the Hema committee are shocking and the report reveals that not only women but also men in the Malayalam film industry face harassment and exploitation. Of course, there is no mention of sexual harassment of men in the industry.

Judge K Hema and the other two members of the committee deserve credit for the way they handled the investigation, by ensuring confidentiality when inviting people who had complaints of exploitation. They made sure that even well-known personalities were kept out of the public eye when they came before the committee to tell their misery. Even the media did not get a hint about the visits. The minutes of the meetings were in camera.

The commission recorded the various complaints, but kept the names of the complainants secret and the names do not appear in the final report. This was done to protect them from bad publicity and even more from further exploitation by the “mafia” in the industry, as described in the report.

Many women who testified before the commission said that they had not even informed their family members or close ones about their exploitation. The commission recorded 30 types of job profiles and 18 types of exploitation and harassment in the Malayalam film industry. So it is not that only women playing lead roles in films were sexually exploited, even women in other fields of work were victims.

Regarding the cases of exploitation of women, the report states that actresses were either asked for sexual favors to get or continue to get work, or to perform nudity and kissing scenes, although these scenes were not mentioned at the time the contracts were signed.

If the names of the victims had come out, it would have been fodder for some journalists and media houses, especially those who are hunting for Television Rating Points (TRPs). Even many individuals who are active on social media would have caused more trauma to the victims by adding their own imagination to their posts.

While the committee is to be commended, the CPI(M) and its government must be condemned for not making the report public and taking action on it. The communist and Marxist ideology has emphasised on gender equality and raised its voice against the exploitation of women. But that is a thing of the past now. By their silence on the Justice Hema Committee report and the government’s failure to bring the violators to justice, it is clear that the present-day Marxists, as well as other Left parties including the Communist Party of India (CPI), have abandoned the communist and Marxist ideology.

Of course, it will not be easy to bring the culprits to justice in some cases, such as sexual exploitation, as victims are not willing to come forward. However, the government could always insist on a closed hearing of such cases, as has been done in many cases, which do not necessarily fall in the spectrum of sexual exploitation. An example is the hearing in the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan by his brother.

There are other issues for which the guilty can and should be brought to book. But the government does not seem to be planning to take action. This is evident from the fact that it has said nothing about the report for more than four years.

The BJP and its government at the Centre have been no better when it comes to taking action against allegations of sexual exploitation of women. The party and its government have remained silent on the stripping and parading of women in Manipur and on complaints by Indian wrestlers of sexual harassment by the then president of the Wrestling Federation of India, Brij Bhushan Singh, who was also a BJP MP in the last Lok Sabha.

There is not a word on these two incidents from the Prime Minister or the Union Home Minister. With their silence, the party spokespersons, who regularly shout themselves hoarse on television channels, deviate from the topic when asked to speak on the issue, though that itself is rare as most anchors take care not to ask embarrassing questions to BJP spokespersons.

However, in view of the Haryana elections, where wrestler Vinesh Phogat, one of the complainants against Brij Bhushan, is the Congress candidate, the BJP leadership has asked Brij Bhushan to stop making wild statements against Phogat.

There is a demand from some quarters to release the report of a similar inquiry into Tollywood. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to set up a committee on the lines of the Justice Hema Committee in Kerala. This is following a suggestion by Bengali actress Ritabhari Chakraborty.

The current government in Maharashtra has painted the state red and talked about the Ladki Bahin (dear sister) scheme to give women in the state Rs 1,500 per month. If Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his two deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar really consider the women of the state as their “dear sisters”, they should set up a similar committee to look into the situation in Mumbai-based Bollywood.

There have been complaints of sexual abuse and casting couch use by Bollywood stars and #MeToo campaigns were also launched with complaints from across the country and across industries. But gradually the campaign died down and not many were prosecuted.

All in all, one may wonder whether there is a political party that is really interested in the fight against sexual exploitation in any sector.

The author is a senior journalist and media trainer. He tweets at @a_mokashi