Hema Committee report: No headway in probes; police decide to drop cases as survivors stay silent

Kerala Police drop cases from Hema Committee findings due to lack of evidence and survivor cooperation in Malayalam film industry.

The Kerala Police have decided to drop the cases that emerged from the Hema Committee’s findings on sexual exploitation and the misogyny within the Malayalam film industry.

The move to file Further Action Dropped (FAD) reports in the 35 criminal cases follows the inability of the special investigation team (SIT) to gather sufficient evidence, compounded by the non-cooperation of survivors.

According to official sources, despite repeated summons by both the SIT and the court, the survivors declined to provide statements in connection with the cases.

G. Poonguzhali, Additional Inspector General of Police and nodal officer for the probe, pointed out that while the FAD reports have been filed in 21 of these cases due to a complete lack of progress, the remaining 14 cases are also likely to be dropped temporarily.

“These cases are not being permanently closed,” the officer clarified. “We have incorporated provisions that allow survivors to come forward at any point, which would enable us to reopen investigations. However, in the absence of cooperation, we have hit a legal and procedural dead end.”

She added that the SIT had issued three rounds of notices, and the court had also summoned the survivors thrice without any response, making further investigation impossible under the circumstances.

Despite this setback, police investigations into nearly 70 other cases, registered after the public release of the Hema Committee report and survivor disclosures, are ongoing. Of these, charge sheets have already been filed in nearly 25 cases.