THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a highly controversial decision that contradicts the spirit of the Hema Committee report, most harassment cases registered based on statements from women in the Malayalam film industry are being closed. Approximately 35 cases were registered by the Kerala police based on statements from women associated with the film industry regarding the harassment they experienced.According to police sources, the cases are being closed because women who filed complaints with the committee, headed by retired High Court Judge Justice K. Hema, are not willing to proceed with legal action. Top police officials said that the decision to file Further Action Dropped (FAD) reports in the 35 criminal cases comes after the SIT struggled to gather evidence, combined with the unwillingness of the survivors to pursue the cases legally. Sources suggest that despite multiple summons from both the SIT and the court, the survivors have not come forward to provide statements regarding their complaints. The police officers said that while FAD reports had been filed in connection with 21 cases due to a lack of progress in the probe, the decision to drop the remaining 14 cases is also likely to be taken soon. They claimed the closure was not permanent, and the case could be reopened at any stage in the event of survivors deciding to come forward to pursue them. The SIT and the courts had issued notices several times summoning the survivors, but without any response. This resulted in the probe and legal proceedings reaching a dead end. Meanwhile , investigations into 70 other cases including those against actors M. Mukesh MLA, Siddique, Jayasurya, Maniyanpillai Raju, Edavela Babu and Ranjith are ongoing . Chargesheets have already been filed in nearly 25 of these cases. The Hema committee was established by the Pinarayi Vijayan government in 2017 in response to increasing demands from women organisations and individuals in the cinema industry for widespread reforms and improved safety for women. Actor Parvathy Thiruvoth reacted sharply to the inaction in the Hema committee report. “Now, can we focus on the actual reason this committee was formed? Putting policies in place to help make regulations in the industry? What is happening with that? No rush, eh? It’s only been five and a half years since the report was submitted,” she said in an Instagram post.
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