Oppn in Kerala walks out after Speaker refuses notice for adjournment motion on Hema panel report

Thiruvananthapuram:  The Congress-led opposition in the Kerala Assembly on Friday walked out of the House in protest against the Speaker’s refusal to allow a notice moved by the UDF to adjourn the House and discuss the Justice Hema Committee report which exposed the condition of women in the Malayalam film industry.

Speaker A.N. Shamsheer said the motion for moving the notice was not disallowed by the government but by him. And, as per the precedence, there cannot be a speech by leader of opposition (LoP) V.D.Satheesan.

The notice for the motion was given by K.K. Rema from the opposition.

Satheesan later told the media that the Pinarayi Vijayan government has been very adamant about not discussing the issue and sat over the report handed over to him in 2020. Finally, the report saw the light of the day in August.

“CM Vijayan and his government have been blatantly lying and the biggest lie was when Vijayan said Justice Hema asked that the report should not be published. The truth is she has mentioned that the guidelines of the Supreme Court should be followed when released. But the government misled the House by saying that she said it should not be given out,” said Satheesan.

“For nearly five years the report was with the Vijayan government. The report mentions a series of sexual offences committed and even more grave is to have kept it in hiding as there was a clear violation of the POCSO Act,” added Satheesan.

“The Vijayan government has done a criminal offence and the court also has said what we had pointed out — why no probe was launched earlier,” said Satheesan.

“Things have reached a stage where none is coming to give their statements. How will any witnesses come forward and testify as this government lacks credibility? We have seen from the past cases which are clearly against the interest of women. They say a conclave is being held and no one knows for what, as the government is anti-women because the victim and the accused are all taking part,” said Satheesan.

Rema told the media that it was very important to discuss the issues of women but the government was not willing to discuss them.

“I myself brought this before the Assembly that the victims’ names should be kept secret and the government should act, and all these years they were lying even though in 2021 the State Minister for Culture Saji Cherian categorically said action will be taken very soon. It was only after the media took the initiative and also the High Court intervened that the report surfaced. And, when it was published the state government censored more than what the court had directed,” said Rema.

“Cherian has lied blatantly, first he said they would act, but now he says he has not read the report. They are standing with the villains and not with the victims,” added Rema.

Following the publication of the Hema committee report, a few former actresses publicly revealed their bad experiences and the police were quick to act, registering 11 FIRs against various film personalities.

At present, those who are in the dock include actor-turned-CPI(M) legislator Mukesh Madhavan, Siddique, Nivin Pauly, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith and Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble.

Mukesh, Ranjith, Raju, Prakash and Jayasurya have already got relief from the courts from being arrested.

–IANS