Hema Commission Report : Kerala High Court Declines Actor Ranjini's Third Party Appeal, Allows Her To File Fresh Writ Petition

“….the learned single judge had no occasion to consider the individual rights of the appellant. The remedy in such matters is for the appellant to approach the single judge challenging the actions which according to the appellant affect her individual right of privacy. With liberty as above, the appeal stands dismissed,” Stated the Court.

The Court added that it will hear the writ appeal filed by Producer, Sajimon Parayil challenging the order of the single judge.

The Court orally stated that the judgment of the single judge is a judgment in personam and not a judgment in rem. It noted that the appellant is a third party in the writ appeal and the right remedy for her is to approach the single judge with a writ petition.

She has filed the writ appeal alleging the violation of her right to privacy since she gave statements to the Committee under a promise of confidentiality. She submitted that she had a legitimate expectation of being heard before a decision was taken to publish the report. 

[Update: The Justice Hema Committee Report was made public at 2.30 PM before the writ petition was placed before the Single Judge.

Update: The writ petition filed by Ranjini was closed as infructuous on September 03, 2024.]

Click here to Read/Download the Report]

The appeal is moved by Advocates Renjith B. Marar, Lakshmi N. Kaimal, P. Rajkumar, Keshavraj Nair, Arun Poomulli, Anand Ramesh, Abhiram S. Abhijith Sreekumar, Gaadha Suresh

Counsel for the Respondents: Advocates M. Ajay, Gokul D. Sudhakaran, T. R. S. Kumar, A. Parvathi Menon, Binoy Vasudevan, A. K. Preetha, N. Krishna Prasad, Bharath Mohan, Sriram R. B., Vaishnav Dath S., P. Parvathy, Sreejith Sreenath, Rincy Khader, K. V. Rajeswari, Devika Mohan

Case Title: Sasha Selvaraj @ Renjini v State of Kerala and Others

Case No: WA 1240/ 2024