Hema Committee exposes the government too
Well begun is half done. This saying, credited to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, means that starting a project well makes it easier to complete. However, the saying that suits the present Left Democratic Front (LDF) government seems to be “Well begun, not done.” Or, worse, “Well begun, left undone,” meaning that having made a good beginning, the government kills it before completion.
The latest in the government's filicide (killing one’s own progeny) relates to what has happened to the Justice K Hema Committee. The previous LDF government had won wide praise when, in 2017, it appointed a three-member committee to study the problems faced by women in the Malayalam cinema industry. This committee was the first of its kind in the country, although such nefarious patriarchal practices have been going on for a long time everywhere. Indeed, this was a progressive decision by the last Pinarayi Vijayan government, and it also owed to Kerala’s long tradition of pioneering and enlightening steps in many realms. The few brave and conscientious women from the film industry who formed the Women in Cinema Collective in the aftermath of the shocking assault on an actor and demanded the government's immediate intervention also deserve much credit.
However, all the goodwill the government gained was lost with its deeds after the Hema Committee submitted its report in 2019. The previous and present governments’ sitting on the report for about five years despite the spate of severe and cognisable crimes it revealed, its pathetic attempts to keep it from reaching the public and now to evade its duty to initiate actions against the offenders have grievously marred their image. It took a huge media outcry and two women coming out accusing top director Ranjith, Chairman of Kerala Chalachitra Academy and actor Siddique, General Secretary, Association of Malayalam Movies Artists, of sexual abuse for the government to act.
Both of them quit their positions following the allegations. Subsequently, the government constituted a seven-member special police team that included four women IPS officers to investigate the five complaints filed by women. Wisdom dawning late seems to be another hallmark of the government. In the wake of the developments, charges made by women against actor and CPI(M) legislator Mukesh and actor Alencier also have since resurfaced.
However, the government has yet to announce any action based specifically on the Hema Report even after its long-delayed release, though the State Human Rights Commission deserves credit for addressing the violation of human rights mentioned in it. These evasive tactics make one suspect even the government’s original intentions. Otherwise, why did the government form the Hema committee as a mere “study group” instead of constituting it under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 (CIA), which would have made it statutory to initiate action based on the report’s findings? The suspicion grows when the Chief Minister, the Culture Minister, or the CPI(M) spokespersons on TV channels justify the government’s inaction by repeating ad nauseam that the Committee was not constituted under the CIA. Isn’t the government itself to be blamed for it? Why not initiate suo motu steps under the highly effective Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act 2013 or the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012?
As despicable as the patriarchal and misogynist offences mentioned in the report are the government’s ridiculous justifications. The most unfortunate among them was the Chief Minister’s explanation that action would only be initiated if the victims came forward with formal complaints against their offenders. Culture Minister Saji Cherian and his predecessor A K Balan -both are advocates too- held no crime or an FIR could be registered without a complainant, an alleged offender or specific details like the When, What, Where or How of a crime. Legal experts and even the Kerala High Court have called the bluff of these hollow arguments and pointed to multiple ways to address these cognisable offences effectively.
However, more than this technical issue, the most unacceptable is the government’s inane attempts to wash its hands of the problem. The Hema Committee was appointed by the government, entrusting it with the specific duty to study the issues faced by women. Moreover, the Committee had promised utmost confidentiality to those who came forward to testify when it was stumped by the reluctance of the women to reveal their experiences, fearing reprisals from the offenders. Thus, without those few brave women who testified, the committee’s work, the report, and the government’s mission would have failed miserably.
Yet, instead of rewarding those women who dared against all odds, the government shirked its duty and asked the victims/survivors to endure further ordeal. This violates the government's word, besides it being unjust and immoral. Even if technical and legal knots remain, minimum propriety demands that the government assures the survivors of immediate action in consultation with the judiciary. Instead, the government’s announcement of a conclave to discuss the problems of cinema ended as shooting oneself in the foot. It revealed the government’s urge to protect the predators and a nexus of the patriarchal power structures.
After the survivors came forward to name the Malayalam film industry’s two pillars -Ranjith and Siddique- who allegedly abused them sexually, the government lost even its fig leaf to cover its gross failure and attempts to shield the powerful. Now, all that remains to be known is how many more names will come out, like those from Tatrikkutty’s infamous list. Malayalam film industry’s # MeToo movement appears to have finally arrived.
It is no secret that women have long been victims of severe sexual and other forms of exploitation in the film industry everywhere, where patriarchy rules universally. Everyone in the industry everywhere knows that among the sexual predators are famed producers, directors, actors and others. Yet, only a few celebrities, such as Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein (Miramax) and international filmmaker Roman Polanski, get caught.
The reason is that most survivors keep silent, fearing reprisal that includes physical assaults, loss of jobs or social stigma. However, the long-lived shroud of silence over the “unspeakable truth” was ripped open for the first time in 2017 with the stormy “#MeToo” movement in Hollywood that exploded in social media. More than 80 women came out against Weinstein, accusing him of shocking sexual abuses, including rape. Arrested and convicted in 2020, Weinstein now serves time in New York’s Rikers Island prison, sentenced to imprisonment for 42 years in separate cases. However, after a Court of Appeals this year found procedural error in his conviction, the 72-year-old Weinstein now awaits a retrial starting next month.
The MeToo movement has also impacted the Indian film industry, with many women coming forward against prominent men since 2018. Singer Chinmayi and many other women accused the Padma Bhushan-winning Tamil poet and lyricist Vairamuthu of severe sexual misconduct. Marathi actor Tanushree Dutta charged actor Nana Patekar with sexually harassing her on a movie set. Allegations arose against actors Alok Nath, Rajat Kapur, Arjun Sarja, composer Anu Malik, singer Kailash Kher, and directors like Vivek Agnihotri and Sajid Khan. Though no significant punitive action has yet been initiated against any of them, most have lost their past hold in the industry.
During the pre-MeToo era, the only prominent film celebrity convicted of sexual harassment was Roman Polanski, the master director who made the stunning horror film Rosemary’s Baby (1968). The incident also revealed how several much-admired writers and film personalities had no shame in publicly backing their predator colleague!
After being convicted at 43 of the rape of a 13-year-old child during a photo shoot at actor Jack Nicholson’s Los Angeles home, Polanski fled America a day before his sentence in 1978. He has since lived in Europe as a fugitive from the US but made over 20 films during this period, including the Oscar-winning The Pianist (2002). Though arrested in 2009 in Switzerland on a three-decade-old US warrant, Polanski was released the following year after a Swiss court rejected the US government’s extradition request. Hundreds of well-known writers, directors, actors and producers, including the celebrated French author Bernard-Henri Levy, filmmakers Woody Allen and Martin Scorcese, and French and Polish Foreign ministers, urged the Swiss authorities to release Polanski. They had argued that the French-Polish Polanski was a creative genius, a survivor of the anti-Jewish persecutions by Hitler and Stalin, that the assault had happened long ago and that his victim had abandoned legal proceedings against him.
This writer remembers visiting Krakow in Poland where the Jewish ghetto where the young Polanski lived with his parents during the Nazi occupation is a major tourist attraction. The 91-year-old Polanski continues making films, with the latest The Palace (2023) released last year. During these years, many other women also accused Polanski of sexual offences, including this year when a woman sued him, alleging that he raped her in 1973 when she was a minor!