Malayalam Film Industry: No Victim Came Forward, All Cases Dropped

All 35 cases based on the Justice Hema Committee report have been dropped. On Wednesday, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) informed the Kerala High Court that it has dropped all cases relating to sexual harassment in the Malayalam film industry since none of the victims came forward to give their statements.

Following the update from SIT, the High Court bench, comprising Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and C.S. Sudha determined that no further action is necessary in the crimes registered by the agency at this time. The court also noted that the state government has scheduled a Film Conclave to be held in the first week of August 2025. Therefore, the court has now scheduled a follow-up hearing on August 13 to further consider the petitions.

For the unversed, in August 2024, the findings of the Justice Hema Committee Report were made public, which left everyone shocked. The report explored the working conditions for women in the Malayalam film industry and shed light on several alleged cases of sexual harassment or assault. FIRs were also registered against several film personalities including Mukesh, Siddique, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Nivin Pauly, Maniyan Pillai Raju, directors Ranjith, V. K. Prakash, and production executives Vichu and Noble.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate these cases. Later, a Special Bench of the Kerala High Court also directed the SIT to appoint a nodal officer who could be easily contacted by victims, complainants, or witnesses for any concerns.

“It was pointed out that some of the victims who preferred complaints before the Hema Committee have since approached the SIT. Some of them have received intimidating calls and they can’t approach the SIT as and when they get such threatening calls. Taking note of the same, we deem it appropriate to direct the SIT to immediately nominate a nodal officer and give adequate publicity of the name and contact of the nodal officers nominated by them," a special bench had said.

In the wake of the findings of the Hema Committee, Mohanlal also resigned as the president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists. He was the president of the association and had a 17-member executive committee. However, all the members of the committee submitted their joint resignation.