Actor Ranjini, who had approached a division bench of the Kerala High Court against the single bench’s order allowing the Hema Commission report to be made public, said an entertainment tribunal should be set up to probe the contents of the report.
“As someone who has given input to the committee, I have a legal right to know the details of the report,” Ranjini told media. He also thanked the Chief Minister for postponing the release of the report. Incidentally, the state government had initially announced that the report would be released on Saturday but changed its decision after Ranjini filed an appeal on Friday.
Ranjini also said the Kerala State Commission for Women should have sought a copy of the report of the committee that looked into the working conditions of women in the Malayalam film industry. “I approached the court because the women’s commission failed to do so. Everyone who has made a statement to the commission has the right to get a copy of the report,” she said.
“I too want the report to be made public, but before that I would like to know which of the facts in my statement are included in the report,” Ranjini said. He also called for a consensus to be reached among all those who had given statements to the committee before the report is made public. “Even after making statements several years ago, we have not been informed whether the report contains all the facts we revealed or only some of them,” Ranjini said.
“The contents of the report may cause harm to some people. Who will be held responsible if anything untoward happens thereafter?”, questioned Ranjini. “The report contains the experiences of so many people. It contains a lot of very sensitive information and the Women’s Commission should have asked for a copy. I approached the court as I had no other option,” the actor said.
Ranjini said she filled out a questionnaire given to her by the committee during the hearing. “The committee members assured us that our responses would be kept confidential. But we will know what is revealed once they move towards publishing the report,” she said.