HC permits release of Hema Committee report after dismissing plea filed by producer Sajimon Parayil

KOCHI: The plea seeking not to release the report of Justice Hema Committee, which studied the problems of women in the film industry, has been dismissed. Producer Sajimon Parayil filed the plea against the release of the report. The report has issues faced by women in the film industry.

The Kerala High Court has ordered that the report can be released respecting privacy. The order was issued by a bench led by Justice V G Arun. The court has directed that the report be released only after a week.

The court had asked whether the content of the report personally affects the plaintiff. The reply was that it would affect the film industry as a whole, even if not personally. The petitioner had also argued that it may happen like how former chief minister Oommen Chandy was hunted using the solar commission report.

State Women's Commission and Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), who were party in the case, had informed the court that the report be released after protecting privacy. The WCC had also alleged that the petitioner’s intervention is suspicious.

The RTI Commission's counsel had argued that the report was of public interest and that the rest of the report be released under privacy protection. The Hema Commission was formed after the actor was attacked in Kochi in 2017. The report was submitted in 2019. A committee was appointed to study the problems faced by women in the film industry for the first time in India.