Hema Commission: Vijayan govt censors more than CIC asked

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23 (SocialNews.XYZ) A day after the Kerala High Court admitted a PIL seeking registration of a criminal case based on the Hema Commission’s findings on the conditions and sexual exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry, sources said the state government had censored more paragraphs than the Chief Information Commissioner had ordered.

The report contained explosive information about the workings of a powerful group of top actors and others in the Malayalam film industry.

According to sources, the Chief Information Commissioner had ordered the removal and redaction of around 21 paragraphs before the report was published. On 19 August, the report was released after a lengthy legal battle.

On Friday it was announced that the Ministry of Culture, which had handed over the report to a group of journalists who requested it under the Right to Information Act, had deleted about 129 paragraphs.

Award-winning actor and director Joy Mathew said that it is not fair if this is true. She believed that things cannot remain secret for long because one day the truth will come out.

Actress Mala Parvathy said this is a serious incident of further censorship and authorities should explain.

Former Home Minister and veteran Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Vijayan government is cheating and this gives enough indication that they are trying to hide something and giving space to those who did wrong to escape.

Public activist Harish Vasudevan pointed out that the decision to release the report was taken on July 18 and after taking a legal turn, the report was finally released on August 19. With reports coming in with paragraphs and pages omitted, it is clear that someone has tampered with the report and everyone wants to know who did it and why.

Meanwhile, the six journalists who requested a copy of the report are also in turmoil, because when they received the report, they were not given this information about the new removal. The journalists are likely to file a complaint with the CIC about this.

On Friday, Opposition Leader VD Satheesan wrote to CM Vijayan and also to Minister of State for Culture and Films Saji Cherian asking for a special investigation team of Kerala Police, headed by a woman IAS officer, to investigate sexual exploitation of women in the film industry.

The Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) and FEFKA (the umbrella organisation of various organisations, from film stars to directors), are known for their stances on various issues, but have not yet responded to the Hema committee.

However, Cherian on Friday dodged the new developments, saying that now that the matter is before the courts, he has nothing more to say.

Pressure also mounted, especially on AMMA, whose chairman is superstar Mohanlal. He was first admitted to hospital for fever, but was later discharged. Now he has taken part in a charity show of AMMA and has been incommunicado since then.

On Friday, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission, based on a complaint, asked the chief secretary and the state police chief to submit a report within two weeks on the action taken in response to the findings of the Hema Commission report.

All eyes are on the Supreme Court, which has asked the state government to preserve the report received by the Vijayawada government in 2019 without taking any further action.

After accepting the PIL in their file, the court directed the government to file a detailed affidavit on their positions, hand over the entire Hema Commission report in a sealed envelope and sue the Kerala State Women’s Commission.

The case will now be heard on September 10.

Source: IANS

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