Kerala HC rejects plea against release of Justice Hema Committee report

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday, 13 August dismissed a plea challenging a State Information Commission's order directing the release of the Justice K Hema Committee report which studied the issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry.

Justice V G Arun directed that the report be published within one week.

The court dismissed the order saying that the petitioner -- Sajimon Parayil -- was not an aggrieved party, his lawyer Saiby Jose Kidangoor said.

The detailed order is not yet available.

The court had on 24 July stayed release of the report for a week and the interim order was extended from time to time.

The interim order was last extended on 6 August.

Parayil, a film producer, had challenged the information commission's July 5 order directing the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) to reasonably disseminate the information in the report while ensuring that it does not compromise the privacy of individuals.

"While providing attested copies of the Justice K Hema Committee report, the SPIO should ensure that the materials do not lead to the identification of individuals referenced in the said report or compromise their privacy," it had said.

The Information Commissioner, in his order, however, had asked the SPIO not to disclose the details of paragraph 96 contained on page 49 and paragraphs 165 to 196 from pages 81 to 100.

The committee was formed after the 2017 actress assault case involving actor Dileep to study issues of sexual harassment and gender inequality in Malayalam cinema.

Even though the report was filed in 2019, the government is yet to release the details as it was suspected to contain sensitive information.

The actress-victim who has worked in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films was allegedly abducted and molested in her car for two hours by some of the accused, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017 and later escaped in a busy area. The entire act was filmed by some of the accused to blackmail the actress.

There are 10 accused in the case. Dileep, the eighth accused in the case, was also arrested and sent to jail. He was released after the court granted him bail. The case is pending.