A single bench of the Kerala High Court said on August 19 that it cannot consider a plea by actor Ranjini, challenging the release of the Hema Committee report, due to lack of documents. Earlier in the day, a division bench of the court had dismissed her plea, asking her to file a writ petition to a single bench instead. 

Ranjini had filed her plea to the division bench on Friday, August 16, a day before the Hema Committee report was expected to be released to those who had filed a Right To Information plea for it. Following this, the release of the report was deferred to Monday, subject to court orders.With Ranjini’s plea now dismissed, the report is expected to be released soon.

It must be noted that Ranjini was represented by advocate Renjith Marar, familiar to Kerala TV audiences as he would often appear on TV in support of actor Dileep, accused of hiring goons to sexually assault a female actor. In 2023, the court appointed him as amicus curie in the case and he recused himself after the prosecution objected. 

The Hema Committee report, containing depositions about workplace harassment by women working in Malayalam cinema, was submitted before the Department of Culture in December 2019. However, the release of the report has been delayed for over four and a half years, with the government citing the privacy of the women as a reason for withholding publication. In July, the State Information Commission directed the state Public Information Officer to release the report, after criticising the government for the delay.

Following the SIC order, the report was expected to be made public last month. However, a plea by film producer Sajimon Parayil led the court to order an interim stay. Later, the court upheld the SIC order, dismissing Sajimon’s plea and directing the Department of Culture to release the report within a week. Actor Ranjini’s plea had led the publication to be postponed a second time. In an interview to TNM, Ranjini said that she was not against the publication of the release, but she and other women who had deposed before the Hema Committee should get a copy of the report and they should give their consent before the publication. 

Both the Kerala Women’s Commission and the Women in Cinema Collective (of which Ranjini too is a member) have been pressing for the release of the report for years. The report, containing sensitive information including sexual abuse of women, is expected to cause a lot of furore once it is out.