Hema Committee report fallout: Interim relief for actors Mukesh, Edavela Babu

Kochi: A court in Kerala's Kochi on Tuesday granted interim relief from arrest for two Malayalam film actors- two-time CPI-M legislator Mukesh and Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA) former General Secretary Edavela Babu.

Veteran actor Maniyanpilla Raju, however, got a major relief as the charges against him are available and hence, his anticipatory bail plea was allowed by the Ernakulam Principal Sessions Court.

However, for Mukesh and Babu, the court said that the final judgment on the anticipatory bail pleas will be delivered on Thursday and until then, the two should not be arrested.

Another person who got the same relief was Congress worker and lawyer V.S.Chandrasekheran.

All three face grave charges.

Following the release of the Hema Committee report, which probed the conditions of the women working in the Malayalam film industries, on August 19, Kerala Police have so far registered FIRs against 10 people, nine of them are from the film industry based on the complaints from various actresses.

Those who are in the dock after the police registered FIRs, include Mukesh, Siddique, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith, and V.K. Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble. Actor Baburaj and director Tulasidas have been named in complaints, but no FIRs have been registered against them so far.

Both the Congress and the BJP have accused the Pinarayi Vijayan government of playing dirty by keeping the report under wraps for the past four years and eight months to protect the violators and taking a callous view towards the victims, which is in contrast to their often said statement, that they always give full protection to women. This report of the committee, which was formed in 2017 and submitted in 2019, was finally released on August 19, after a long-drawn legal battle and here again, the Vijayan government is claimed to have redacted the contents of the report to a greater extent than what the court had asked for.

Meanwhile, the special investigation team of 7 police officials, of which four are woman IPS officers, are currently taking statements from those victims who have come forward with their complaints and is yet to question those who have been charged.