After the Kerala High Court directed authorities to “go through the entire Hema Committee report and take action if any offences are made out in it”, police registered a case against a noted makeup artist, whose alleged sexual misconduct was mentioned in the testimonies given to the committee by women working in the Malayalam film industry.
It was the first case to be registered on the basis of the Justice Hema Committee report, which was released last month and detailed problems faced by women in the Malayalam film industry.
Police at Ponkunnam in Kottayam district registered the sexual harassment case based on the statements of a woman from Kollam. The case was then handed over to the Special Investigation Team formed to look into cases of sexual misconduct in the aftermath of the report’s release.
According to police, the FIR was registered under sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 354A (physical contact or advances that are unwelcome and explicitly sexual, demanding or requesting sexual favours) and 354D (stalking) of the IPC.
“The incident allegedly took place at a lodge in Ponkunnam in 2014 during the shooting of a film. After the Hema Committee report referred to the incident, police got in touch with the survivor, who was ready to proceed with legal action. Hence, we recorded her statement and the case will be probed by the SIT,” an officer said.
Earlier this month, the High Court had come down heavily on the state government’s four-year-long inaction on the Hema Committee report. The court directed the government to hand over an unredacted copy of the report and all related documents to the SIT. “Let the SIT go through its threadbare and see whether any offences are made out, cognizable or otherwise and take action… The actions taken are to be reported to the court in two weeks,” the court had said.
The SIT has so far been dealing with allegations and complaints that came in the aftermath of the Hema Committee report’s release, but were not directly taken from the contents of the report.