Kerala HC to form Special Bench to Hear Petition related to Hema Committee Report

Kerala HC to form Special Bench of 5 Judges to Hear cases related to Hema Committee Report

After the release of the Hema Committee report on the challenges encountered by women working in the Malayalam film industry, the Kerala High Court will form a Special Bench constituted of female judges to hear public interest lawsuits (PILs). During the hearing of a case filed by producer Sajimon Parayil, acting Chief Justice A. Muhamad Mustaque made this announcement and noted that a woman judge will lead the special bench.

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eraIn 2017, the Kerala government established the Justice K Hema Committee in response to a request by the ‘Women in Cinema Collective’ to investigate the problems that women encounter in the film industry. Although the report was delivered to the state administration in 2019, access to it was only granted earlier this year by the State Information Commission upon request from a few parties, primarily journalists, following the removal of personal data to preserve the privacy of witnesses.

Orally noting that the matter has grown infructuous, a division bench heard an appeal filed by film producer Parayil against a single-judge judgment upholding this Information Commission decision. However, the court stated that the matter would be posted before the special bench.

When the special bench gets operational, it will be faced with a deluge of applications, one of which is a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that seeks criminal charges against individuals named in the report for alleged sexual offenses. Because the public report has been more heavily redacted than required, the top court in that case has ordered the state to produce a single copy of the whole report, redaction-free, in a sealed cover. It is anticipated that another PIL will be brought before the new Bench, asking for an investigation into the report’s accusations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

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