Kerala High Court stays release of report on women's working conditions in Malayalam films

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday stayed, for a week, the release of the Justice K. Hema Committee Report on women's working conditions in the Malayalam film industry.

The report, which, according to some, is a "ticking time bomb" was all set to be made public at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, but a petition was filed against its release by film producer Sajimon Parayil in the High Court, claiming its release would badly affect the money-spinning Malayalam film industry.

The Pinarayi Vijayan government, in 2017, appointed retired judge, Justice Hema, to study the problems of women in the industry after the 'Women in Cinema Collective' approached the Chief Minister seeking the study.

Justice Hema submitted her report two years later after the state government spent Rs 1.50 crore on the committee, but the state government, for some undisclosed reasons, decided not to publish the report.

Following this, despite repeated questions submitted through the Right to Information route, there were no answers on the fate of the report. However, a group of journalists continued to persevere for the publication of the report and were finally able to prevail upon the State Information Commission, which directed the disclosure of the report after deleting certain portions. It was fixed to be released on Wednesday at 4 p.m. when the fresh petition surfaced.

Hearing the arguments on Wednesday, the High Court decided that it would hear the petition in more detail and issued an interim stay for a week.