Kerala Govt forms another 3-member panel to implement the recommendations in Hema Committee report

Following the recent developments into sexual assault case of a prominent actress in 2017, the Kerala government has formed another three-member panel to implement the recommendations in the Hema Commission report.

The panel comprises of Kerala Chalachithra Academy secretary Ajoy C, as well as an under-secretary each from the state Culture Department and the Law Department.

As per a report by The News Minute, the panel has been formed to examine the prominent parts of the Hema Commission report, check the legal side and file a report on how the recommendations can be implemented.

The Justice Hema Commission was set-up on July 01, 2017 and after two years, on December 31, 2019, a 5000-page report was submitted. It was prepared based on the findings, conclusions and recommendations by an expert group of people on the sexual harassment prevalent in the film industry and several other variants of gender inequality.

Ever since, the report has been kept "confidential" by reason of the 'sensitivity' of the information contained in it. All RTI requests for disclosure of the report, have been rejected. As per recent reports, the recommendations of the Committee are currently being analyzed and studied by the concerned officials working in the Department of Cultural Affairs.

As told to Reporter TV by Minister Saji, the panel was formed after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked to create guidelines on implementing the Hema Commission recommendations. He said that the government has not thought of presenting the report before the Assembly since it was a "huge volume with many pages".

He added that the government may hold further discussions with film organisations, once the three-member panel submits their report on how to implement the recommendations

On several occasions, members of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) expressed their disappointment at the government's inaction in implementing or making the report public.

Last week, retired Justice Hema, who led the government-appointed committee had made it clear that the report has to remain confidential.

She also said there was no attempt to protect perpetrators but the women who spoke to the committee and shared experiences of harassment are free to disclose it openly, if they prefer to do so.