The heavily redacted version of the Justice Hema Committee report was finally released to the public on August 19. As expected, the report detailed various offences, including sexual assault, within the Malayalam film industry. But those looking at the Kerala government to take any proactive steps to address the concerns will be disappointed, as they have made it clear that no suo motu cases will be taken; cases will only be initiated based on complaints.
“If any woman who testified in connection with the Justice Hema Committee report comes forward to file a complaint, there will be appropriate intervention from the government. If someone has committed a crime, no matter how big their name is, they will be brought before the law. No one should doubt it,” said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, August 20.
Culture Affairs Minister Saji Cheriyan said the government could take legal action only if a formal complaint was received. "If anyone who provided statements to the committee files a complaint, definite action will follow," he said in an interview with Manorama News.
"We cannot take any legal action other than reviewing the recommendations given by the committee,” he said. When asked if the government would now take legal action since the report has been made public, Saji Cheriyan responded that no women had lodged complaints with him.
The Minister repeatedly denied reading the full report, as it was currently with the Information Commission. "We don’t even have a page of it with us," he added. Saji said that he had only seen the conclusions and recommendations of the report, even before its release. He also said that it was only with the officials and that he had not seen it.
He further noted that the government had already begun acting on the recommendations. "We have initiated discussions with stakeholders for a new cinema policy," he said.
"The relevant portions of this report were officially submitted to the government. On June 10, 2020, an RTI request was filed with the Information Commission seeking the report. Then-Chief Information Commissioner Vincent M Paul ordered that it not be published. So, we cannot release it, and even Justice Hema requested that it not be published," he explained.
This is not the first time the government has denied having seen the report.
In 2020, former Culture Minister AK Balan, while responding to questions about the committee, told the media that the government had not acted on the report or taken up any case because several documents and statements in the report had not been provided to them by the committee.
However, in a letter dated February 6, 2020, Justice Hema, while submitting the report to Secretary of Culture Affairs Rani George, said: "I would like to bring to your kind notice that the original report, along with two copies, was made available to the government on December 31, 2019. The report (1+2 copies) was handed over to the Chief Minister, and a copy was handed over to the Minister for Culture Affairs, along with various documents relied upon by the committee." Justice Hema, in the letter, also stressed "the need to keep the report confidential as it contains details of sexual assault, harassment, and abuse disclosed to the committee by various women in private and in-camera proceedings."
The Department of Cultural Affairs constituted the committee on July 1, 2017, in the aftermath of an incident where a prominent female actor was kidnapped and sexually assaulted in a moving car. The three-member committee included Justice Hema, veteran actor Sarada, and former bureaucrat KB Valsalakumari.