Justice Hema Commission report should be released; Women's Commission welcomes High Court verdict

KOCHI: Kerala Women's Commission has welcomed the High Court verdict dismissing the plea not to release the Hema Committee report that studied the problems of women in the film industry. Women's Commission chairperson P Sathidevi said that the Commission was with the women right from the beginning.

'The Women's Commission had voluntarily joined as a party in two writ petitions filed by the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) seeking a solution to anti-women attitudes in the film industry. The women's commission was able to bring to the notice of the court that there is no Internal Complaints Redressal Committee (ICC) in the Malayalam film industry to address the issues of women in the workforce as per the POSH Act,' the Women's Commission stated in a press release.

'As per the order of the Information Commission, the Justice Hema Commission report should be released without compromising the privacy of individuals. The public has the right to know the contents of the report. It is the responsibility of the government to reveal the problems found by the Commission and the matters mentioned in the report. In this context, the release of the report will be helpful in understanding what has been said about suggestions for problem-solving in the film industry and the ways to set up internal problem-solving committees in film units,' the Commission stated.