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CM Vijayan cites Justice Hema Committee guidelines for delayed release of report

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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 20 2024-

A day after the explosive report of the Justice (retd) Hema Committee on the condition and sexual exploitation of women in the Malayalam film industry came out and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan faced flak for keeping the report under wraps for nearly five years, he on Tuesday clarified that his government had no role in it and it went by the committee’s guidelines.

“Incidentally, it was Justice Hema herself who wrote to the state government in 2020 quoting the apex court guidelines not to name the people in the report as it is private information and it has to be kept extra confidential. The state government had no role in this,” Vijayan said.

He noted that the then Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Vinson M. Paul in 2020 ruled that the Justice Hema Committee report should not be given out.

“However, in 2024, the CIC decided to overrule the 2020 decision by masking the sensitive information. But soon came the petition from a producer before the High Court. It was first stayed, then the stay was vacated. Soon came another petition from a popular actress. The state government has only one stand and we have no issues. The Hema Committee report states it was prepared by them only and not even a stenographer was involved. It was done to keep the confidentiality and is mentioned in the report itself,” Vijayan said.

“I will make one thing very clear… the government in the past has acted very tough and we will continue in that direction only. We make it very clear that if anyone who has given a statement before the committee approaches with a complaint of their experience, we will act on it, irrespective of who is on the other side,” he added.

Vijayan went on to add that this is the first time in the country that a state government had appointed such a committee to study women’s issues in the film industry.

“It was on June 6, 2017, our government, after hearing about serious issues in the film industry, decided to appoint the Hema committee and they were asked to submit a report in six months’ time, but it got delayed and was submitted on December 31, 2019,” he said.

“The government, after going through the recommendations, started to act and the internal complaints committee was set up besides there was a recommendation for women filmmakers and we decided to help them and included this in the state budget. A sum of Rs 1.50 crore also for each film made by women was sanctioned and by now, four such films have been released,” Vijayan added.

“There was a recommendation for floating a Cinema Bill and this is being worked out by a team led by veteran filmmaker Shaji N. Karun. We are also planning to hold a Cinema conclave where all issues would be discussed and debated,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the government is of the view that the Kerala film industry is 94 years old and just because of certain incidents, this industry with a huge legacy should not be denigrated.

“Kerala has a very big history of films and achievements and isolated incidents should not be allowed to override these achievements. There can be villains in films but not in the film industry. None should be sidelined and kept out and there should be no factions or groups in the industry. At no cost, should there be no exploitation in any form and the government will be with the victim and the ‘villains’ will be taken to task,” Vijayan asserted. (Agency)

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