Kerala Women's Commission Supports Registration Of FIRs On Statements Before Justice Hema Committee, Files Affidavit In Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition challenging the Kerala High Court's direction to the police to register FIRs on statements made by women actors to the Justice Hema Committee regarding the abuses they faced in the Malayalam cinema industry on November 25, in which the Kerala Women's Commission (KWC) has recently filed a counter affidavit.

The Commission has filed the counter in a Special Leave Petition filed by film producer Sajiman Parayil against the Kerala High Court's direction dated October 14.

The KWC has stated that the present petitioner has tried to mislead the Court by distorting facts and making unsubstantiated statements against the proceedings before the High Court.

In the October 14 order, a Special Bench of Justices A. K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and C. S. Sudha, hearing matters related to the Justice Hema Committee Report, observed that the witness statements in the Justice Hema Committee Report disclosed the commission of cognizable offences, which could be treated as "information" to take action as per Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS) (provides for registration of FIR when information is received regarding the commission of a cognizable offence).

It directed the Special Investigating Team (SIT), constituted by the Government to inquire into the allegations made in the Justice Hema Committee Report, to take the necessary action as per Section 173 of the BNSS.

The petitioner contended that the statements made by the victims to the Justice Hema Committee after six years cannot be regarded as 'information' as per Section 173 BNSS when they themselves are disinclined to initiate criminal proceedings and have not asserted the statements later.

A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and P.B. Varale issued notice to the State of Kerala on October 24.

About Justice Hema Committee

The Committee was constituted in 2017 by the Kerala Government to study and report on the issues faced by women working in the Malayalam film industry and to suggest solutions. The Committee's study revealed that women in the film industry face numerous issues, including, sexual demands, sexual harassment, abuse and assault in workplace. They also face problems of transportation and accommodation. It also stated that women lack basic facilities like toilets and changing rooms in film sets, leading to human rights violations.

Counter-affidavit by Kerala Women Commission

The KWC has challenged the locus standi of the petitioner to challenge the impugned orders passed by the High Court. It is stated: "That a mere perusal of the petition as well as the question of laws framed by the petitioner in the present SLP will make it clear that the petitioner utterly fails to explain as to how he is aggrieved by the directions of the High Court in the impugned orders to furnish the full copy of the J. Hema Committee Report to the Special Investigation Team constituted by the Director General of Police cum State Police Chief to carry out the investigation in the wake of the complaints received after the publication of the Report."

The KWC has stated in the counter that the directions issued by the High Court vide the impugned orders, which the petitioner is now alleging to be aggrieved off in the presence petition, has no bearing to the reliefs sought by him in a writ petition before the High Court in which the impugned orders have been passed.

It is said: "That the only locus on the basis of which the petitioner has filed the present petition is that the writ appeal filed by him before the High Court was one of the matters which was tagged along with the main matter in which the impugned orders were passed by the High Court."

It is further stated: "It is pertinent to point out here that the reliefs sought by the petitioner have not been dealt with by the High Court in the impugned orders at all because the reliefs sought by him in the writ appeal has become infructuous with the publication of the Report [Justice Hema Committee Report] on 19.08.2024...It is submitted that the impugned orders were passed by the Special Bench of the High Court while adjudicating the lead case...which was filed as a public interest litigation titled 'Nawas A.@Pachira Navas v. State of Kerala."

The KWC has submitted that a conjoint reading of the reliefs sought by the petitioner in the PIL and the directions given by the High Court to the SIT will make it clear that the said directions were only with respect to the reliefs sought by the petitioner in the PIL and was not connected to the relief sought by the present petitioner in the writ appeal filed by him before the High Court.

Further, it has been stated that the petitioner is indirectly trying to stall the investigation proceedings being carried out by the SIT in the wake of the publication of the reports and the complaints raised thereafter.

"The petitioner fails to explain his grievance in the High Court directing the investigation agency to carry out the investigation in a particular manner in a case of certain hurdles faced by the investigation agency while carrying out the investigation. It is submitted that a mere perusal of the question of law framed by the petitioner in the present petition makes it clear that there is no merit in the petition and has been filed with ulterior motive to make wrongful gains out of it. It is submitted that out of the four questions of laws framed by the Petitioner in the present petition, none of them justifies his locus standi to file the present petition and none of them warrants the interference of this Hon'ble Court under Article 136 of the Constitution", as averred in the counter.

Case Details: Sajimon Parayil v. State of Kerala & Ors, SLP (C) No.25250-25251/2024

Appearance: Advocate Parvathi Menon (Kerala Women's Commission)