The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice on a special leave petition filed against the Kerala High Court's direction to the state police to register FIRs on statements made by women actors to Justice Hema Committee regarding the alleged sexual abuse faced by them in the Malayalam film industry.
A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale today heard the pleas filed against the high court order and sought the state government's reply to the same. On next hearing (November 19), the top court will consider the prayers for interim stay.
The plea contends that when the alleged victims were not keen to file FIRs, the High Court could not have issued such a blanket direction.
The petition has been filed by Malayalam film producer Sajimon Parayil contending that the statements made by the victims to the Committee six years ago cannot be regarded as 'information' as per Section 173 BNSS.
The High Court after going through the entire Hema Committee report, opined that the statements revealed commission of cognisable offences and directed the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to register FIRs after conducting preliminary enquiry.
The Kerala High Court had also sought an action taken report from the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the findings of the Justice Hema Committee Report constituted by the Kerala government. The high court questioned "inaction" on part of the state government on the findings of the report and directed that the complete unredacted report be handed over to the SIT. The high court said that if any audio-video recordings are also made part of the Report, they should also be handed over to the SIT.
The Kerala High Court passed the directions in the matter pertaining to the Justice Hema Committee report on instances of sexual harassment and other problems faced by women in Malayalam film industry. Earlier, a redacted version of the report was made available to the public.