Legislation will be drawn up, based on the recommendations in the reports of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and the Hema committee, to ensure the protection of women in the Malayalam film industry, Culture Minister Saji Cherian said on Thursday, while speaking at the inauguration of the renovated Kairali-Nila-Sree theatre complex in Thiruvananthapuram.
The minister’s announcement comes close on the heels of the Kerala High Court order directing production houses to institute Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) as per the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) PoSH Act, 2013. The order was passed in the PIL filed by the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), demanding the establishment of grievance redressal cells in film bodies.
The minister said that a date has been finalised for a meeting with all stakeholders in the Malayalam film industry, including the WCC, and the suggestions made then will be used in preparing the draft legislation.
He noted that changes need to be implemented from top to bottom of the film industry and there needs to be an awareness that women and men are equal.
Earlier in the day, speaking in the Assembly, the minister had reiterated that the Hema Committee report cannot be published as it was not set up under the Commission of Inquiry Act. He added that Justice K Hema herself had told the government not to make the report public and to keep it confidential as it includes the private accounts of many women.
However, he had mentioned that legislation based on its recommendations would be forthcoming.
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Headed by retired judge Hema, the committee was formed on July 1, 2017, by Kerala’s Department of Cultural Affairs in the aftermath of the Malayalam female actor abduction and sexual assault incident. It aimed to study gender disparity, sexual harassment, and other such issues faced by women in the Malayalam film industry. Many women testified before the commission, describing their traumatic experiences. A report was subsequently submitted to the government on December 31, 2019. Since then, one of the fights of the WCC has been to get the Hema Commission report published.