Hema Committee report: FIR registered against 10 Malayalam film personalities, Cong slams CPI-M

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 30: Following the release of the Hema Committee report which probed the conditions of the women working in the Malayalam film industries, Kerala Police have so far registered FIRs against 10 people, nine of them are from the film industry. Those who are in the dock after the police registered FIRs, include actor-turned-two-time sitting CPI-M legislator Mukesh Madhavan, Siddique, Jayasurya, Edavela Babu, Maniyanpilla Raju, directors Ranjith, V.K. Prakash, production executives Vichu and Noble. Then there is actor Baburaj and director Tulasidas who have been named, but so far no FIRs have been registered against them. Among those against whom FIR has been registered, actor Jayasurya got a jolt when a second complaint was filed against him from a different actress. Meanwhile, leader of the Opposition in Kerala Assembly V.D. Satheesan said there is a big power group in the CPI-M who are extending their full support to the violators of the rule of law. “Leading from the front is none other than Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Culture Minister Saji Cherian. They were keeping the Hema Committee report under wraps for nearly 5 years and that itself shows they are out to protect the wrong doers,” said Satheesan. Fissures have now surfaced in the CPI, the second biggest ally of the ruling Vijayan government as the party leader and wife of party president D. Raja, Annie Raja has been demanding the resignation of Mukesh as a legislator. On Friday, state CPI secretary Binoy Viswan said things that happen in Kerala will be taken care of by the state party leadership. “Now a new narrative is being created by the media here that there is a difference of opinion between the CPI-M and the CPI. The media is wishing for this and all what I will say is none needs to waste their time on this issue,” said Viswan. MLA Mukesh was seen driving out from his home here on Friday, and according to sources, he is headed for Kochi to meet his legal counsel. What surprised many was the normally seen MLA board on his car was missing and there was a police escort for his vehicle. On Thursday, he got a temporary relief when a lower court in Kochi prevented his arrest till September 3. Meanwhile, a member of the special investigation team of the Kerala Police — AIG of Police G. Poonkuzhali said each of the FIRs is being probed by a different team and work is going on. –IANS sg/uk