Kerala HC to constitute special court to hear cases related to Hema Commission report

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday said it will constitute a special bench of five judges to hear cases related to the Report of the Hema Justice Committee.

A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice S Manu made this oral submission during a hearing on a petition challenging the decision of a single judge who was allowed to rule and release the report of the commission.

The special court would also comprise women judges, the Supreme Court said in its oral submissions, according to a lawyer involved in the petition.

The single judge of August 13 had allowed publication of the report by rejecting a request challenging the State Information Commission’s order to make public the panel’s findings and recommendations.

The single-judge ruling came after the petition of Sajimon Parayil, a film producer, was dismissed. Parayil had appealed the Information Commission’s July 5 order directing the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) to disseminate the information in the report in a reasonable manner without compromising the privacy of individuals.

Parayil appealed the single-judge ruling to a first-instance chamber headed by the acting chief justice. The chamber decided on Thursday to set up a special chamber to hear cases related to the panel’s report.

The committee was set up by the Kerala government after the actress’s sexual assault case in 2017 and the report which listed cases of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.

After the report was made public and allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation surfaced against several actors and directors, the state government on August 25 announced the formation of a seven-member special investigation team to probe the allegations.