The Kerala government on Saturday deferred the release of the Justice Hema committee report on sexual harassment and gender inequality in the Malayalam film industry until the High Court decides on a plea challenging its disclosure, The Hindu reported.
Actor Ranjini on Friday challenged the Kerala High Court’s order to publish the Hema committee report. The order was passed on Tuesday after the State Information Commission assured the court that all personal details had been redacted from the report to protect individuals’ privacy.
The actor contended in her plea that the disclosure of the report would violate her fundamental right to privacy and breach the confidentiality promised to witnesses, including her, who had deposed before the panel.
The disclosure of the report, even with redactions as ordered by the state information commissioner, poses significant risks of identifying individuals who provided testimonies under assurances of confidentiality, the plea said.
The court will consider her plea on August 19.
On Tuesday, a bench of Justice VG Arun directed that the report, submitted to the state government more than four years ago, be published within a week.
On July 24, the High Court had stayed its release, hours before it was to be made public. The order came on a petition filed by filmmaker Sajimon Parayil, who challenged the State Information Commission’s July 6 directive ordering the findings of the Hema committee to be made public.
On Tuesday, the court rejected Parayil’s petition.
The three-member committee, comprising Justice Hema, veteran actor Sharada and former bureaucrat KB Valsalakumari, was formed in 2017, weeks after the Women In Cinema Collective met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The collective had demanded an investigation into the problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. This came in the aftermath of a sexual assault case involving actor Dileep.
Despite the report having been submitted in 2019, the Kerala government had declined to make it public. In January 2022, the state formed a panel to study the report and plan the implementation of its recommendations.
In its July 6 order, the State Information Commissioner A Abdul Hakkim issued directions to release the entire report, except sections that are prohibited from being made public under the Right to Information Act. He said that the delay in releasing the report had undermined the purpose of constituting the committee.
Hakkim also ordered that sensitive information, which could violate the privacy of individuals, be withheld.
However, Ranjini said in her plea that due to the interconnected nature of the film industry, the details of the report could lead to the identification of witnesses or complainants and potentially expose them to retaliation or further harassment, reported The Hindu.
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