Not A Single Case In Kerala Film Industry Sex Abuse Report To Be Pursued As Survivors Avoid Recording Statements

Not a single incident mentioned in the Justice K Hema Committee report is going to be pursued legally towards a trial seeking conviction.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was tasked with pursuing legal action on 35 incidents of sexual harassment or misogyny mentioned in the report has decided to file FAD (further action dropped) reports in all of them.

An officer who requested anonymity told NDTV they were left with no option but to drop the cases as the survivors who shared their experiences with the probe panel did not seem inclined to record statements.

"Further action dropped reports have been filed in 21 cases and we are going to be doing that for the rest of the 14 cases as well," the officer said.

The Justice Hema committee was appointed in 2017. It submitted a report to the government in 2019, but it was only in August 2024 that a redacted version of the report was released, after which the SIT was formed by the Kerala government.

"Those who testified before the Hema committee did not intend to pursue legal action. Some of the details we sought they were unable to or unwilling to provide," an officer said.

Why they were unwilling or hesitant to record their statements is not clear.

In submissions to various courts, the SIT reportedly said it was unable to proceed without the cooperation of survivors. The team has clarified that the probe can only resume when survivors are ready to engage with the legal process. Without the participation of survivors, the legal process has been forced to be abandoned, they said.

Whether the survivors were unwilling because they feared repercussions, or whether they did not believe justice would be done or were simply unwilling to relive their trauma or draw public attention to themselves, is not clear.

Activists say it shows lack of trust in institutional mechanisms set up to deliver justice and to create a safe space ensuring confidentiality for testimony and redressal.

Many chose not to proceed and did not respond or turn up to give statements even after three court notices, the officer said. "We have informed the court that we are ready to resume the probe whenever they come forward to do it."

Following the uproar over the Justice Hema Committee report, there were several others who came forward to talk about their experiences in person, through online posts or public testimonies.

In addition to the 35 incidents mentioned in the report that the SIT took up, 85 more cases were filed. Of the total 120 first information reports (FIRs) filed, only 26 have reportedly reached the chargesheet stage, where survivors and complainants had come forward to record their statement.