Actress moves Kerala High Court over release of report on women's working conditions in film industry

Actress Sasha Selvaraj, popularly known as Ranjini, has challenged a recent order by a single judge of the Kerala High Court to allow the publication of Justice Hema Committee Report on working conditions of women in the Malayalam film industry [Sasha Selvaraj @ Renjini v State of Kerala and ors]..In her appeal, Ranjini submitted that she is not opposed to the publication of the report as such. However, she has raised concerns that her right to privacy may be infringed if sensitive portions of the report have not been properly redacted. A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice S Manu on Friday (August 16) admitted her appeal and listed the case for hearing on Monday (August 19). .The Justice K Hema Committee was established by the Kerala government in 2017 following a petition by the 'Women in Cinema Collective' to study the issues faced by women in the film industry.Actress Ranjini was among those who gave a statement to the committee as part of this study. In her plea, she highlighted that she had given her statement on assurances that confidentiality would be maintained. She submitted that she had a legitimate expectation that she would be notified and heard before any part of the report that concerns her statements would be released.The committee submitted its report to the government in 2019.The State Information Commission (SIC) later allowed a plea to publicly release portions of the report after redacting personal information.This move was challenged by film producer Sajimon Parayil before the Kerala High Court. However, on August 13, Justice VG Arun (single judge of the High Court) dismissed the petition,This order has now been challenged by Ranjini, who raised concern that her right to privacy may be violated with the report's release since the task of redacting sensitive portions of the report was left solely to the discretion of an Information Officer. She has submitted that those affected by the report's release have been kept in the dark about which portions would be redacted prior to the report's publication. "The State Information Commissioner ought not have directed the publication of the report without the affected parties including the appellant being heard," the appeal said.She added that when the right to information under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution conflicts with the right to privacy under Article 21, the latter should take precedence due to the reasonable restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression..The Government Pleader (who represented the Kerala government and the SIC) on Friday objected to maintainability of the appeal on the ground that Ranjini was not a party to the petition before the single judge.However, the Court overruled these objections and decided to hear the matter on Monday.Advocates Renjith B Marar, Lakshmi N Kaimal, P Rajkumar, Keshavraj Nair, Arun Poomulli, Anand Ramesh, Abhiram S, Abhijith Sreekumar and Gaadha Suresh appeared for Ranjini..[Read Order]