The Kerala government is facing allegations of withholding five additional pages of the Justice Hema Committee report, purportedly to protect influential figures in the film industry of Kerala. The State Information Commissioner, A Abdul Hakeem, had ordered the exclusion of paragraphs 165 to 196, along with any personal information, before making the report public. However, the government also omitted pages 49 to 53, which were not requested for exclusion by the Commission.
The government has explained that paragraph 98 on page 48, which mentions that even elites in the film industry have sexually harassed actresses, was mistakenly included in the released report. The pages following this paragraph were concealed, leading to suspicions that these pages contain information about the elites, prompting their omission.
The State Information Commission had instructed that transcripts, annexures, and personally identifiable information should not be disclosed. The State Public Information Officer was granted discretion to exclude any sections or pages containing personal details. The government claims it acted within this discretion and did not interfere with the report’s release. Despite this, critics argue that the government’s actions raise concerns, especially with the partial release of Article 96, which was supposed to protect privacy. Meanwhile, the High Court has requested the full report for review.
