The Kerala High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Left government in the state saying its inaction on the Justice Hema Committee report was "alarmingly lethargic".
A special division bench of Justices A. K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and C. S. Sudha said the government got the report over four years ago and ought to have immediately responded and directed that the full report be handed over to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to take requisite action in accordance with law.
"In the instant case, the conduct of the State Executive has been alarmingly lethargic. Although the report of the Justice Hema Committee was submitted to the state government as early as on December 31, 2019, there was no action taken thereon for well over four years... "... and even thereafter, it took litigation to spur the state into action, and that too only in respect of one of the many issues that were flagged by the Justice Hema Committee," the bench said in its order.
The court further said that while the committee was in the nature of a fact-finding body, the fact that public money was spent on its functioning and that it was headed by a retired judge of the High Court, the "bare minimum" that the government could have done was "to take a prompt decision" on whether it agreed with the findings in the report.
"Apparently, this was not done. Silence and inaction not being options available to the state government any more, we are of the definitive view that the state government must take immediate steps to address the various issues generally faced by women in our society, including those faced by women in connection with their respective vocations," the bench said.
It further said that it was also "perplexed" by the government's inaction in a state where the population of females "has always exceeded that of the male" and the birth ratio of females has always been higher than the national average. In such a state, "the interests of women cannot be treated as a minority interest, or their rights equated to minority rights."
"Therefore, the state has to necessarily see the problems faced by women as problems affecting a majority of the literate people in the state," it added.
The court observed that the collective duties of the citizens in society translates into a duty of the state and hence, "it cannot afford to remain a mute spectator to the social and economic injustice that is meted out to women in general".
It directed the government to forthwith furnish a full copy of the committee's report, with all annexures, to the SIT which in turn shall go through it in entirety "to see whether any offence, cognizable or otherwise, has been made out at the instance of any person".
The SIT shall then proceed to take suitable action in accordance with law by treating the contents of the report as 'information' for the purposes of setting the law in motion, the bench said.
"The SIT shall, in particular, be mindful of the sensitivities that are required to be observed during investigation, and shall take note of the legal provisions regarding the privacy rights of the victim as well as those against whom allegations/accusations have been levelled.
"The preliminary enquiry and consequent action shall be done in a manner that is fair to all concerned. The SIT shall then forward a report, on the action taken by it, to the state government within two weeks from today," the court said.
On receiving the report, the government shall include a copy of the action taken along with an affidavit, the court said. The court also directed the SIT to "refrain from giving press conferences or communicating with the media on any aspect of the investigation conducted in connection with the report of the Justice Hema Committee".
It said that the special team can give out information indicating progress of its investigation without mentioning any names. Regarding the media reporting in connection with the committee's report, the bench urged the print, electronic and social media to exercise restraint and adhere to an appropriate code of conduct by respecting privacy rights of the victims and the accused.
It said even an accused person has a fundamental right to a fair probe and trial of the case against him/her and a trial by media would throw those to the winds. The bench hoped that since it was monitoring the SIT probe, the media will ensure that the investigating team is not pressurised to act in a hasty manner through any news articles or posts and therefore, it was not passing a formal order restraining the media.
During the hearing, the Advocate General, appearing for the state, said that 23 cases have been registered based on the complaints by female actors. The Justice Hema Committee was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case and its report revealing instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry.
Following the allegations of sexual harassment and exploitation cropping up against several actors and directors in the wake of the report being made public, the state government on August 25 announced the establishment of a seven-member special investigation team to probe them.
