A tribunal, as suggested by the K. Hema Committee and being considered by the State government, would be incompetent to handle complaints of sexual harassment of women in cinema, according to jurists.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had indicated on Tuesday that the government was considering the proposal to form a tribunal.
The Hema committee had recommended that the “only solution to the various issues faced by women in cinema is to enact an appropriate statute and by constitute a tribunal under the statute” as many situations faced by women in cinema were not covered by existing laws, including the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.
“Tribunals can have the powers of only civil courts and cannot handle any criminal offences, including sexual offences against women. No criminal jurisdiction can be given to a tribunal as it would lead to a conflict of criminal jurisdiction with criminal courts established by law,” pointed out N. K. Jayakumar, former Secretary of the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
As the criminal offences scheduled in the Indian Penal Code or the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS) are Central legislations, no State can carve out the criminal jurisdiction to try these cases and assign them to a tribunal. If new legal rights and obligations are created by new legislation, a statutory adjudicatory machinery such as a tribunal may be constituted. But they cannot try criminal offences,” he explained.
No tribunal can decide on, said a former judge of the Kerala High Court, criminal matters but confine itself to civil disputes as they have the trappings of only civil courts. The tribunals, which do not have the adjudication powers, can only give recommendations, he pointed out.
A government law officer suggested State amendments to BNS to enhance the punishment for sexual offences against women in cinema. The State had earlier enhanced the punishments for some offences earlier. Recently, the punishments for attacks on health workers were enhanced in Kerala following some incidents of violence against doctors and health workers, the official pointed out.
The committee report, which was released to public domain on Monday, had brought out hideous instances of sexual harassment endured by women in Malayalam cinema. The panel had also reported that women were asked to “compromise” and be ready for “adjustments,” the two terms by which “they are asked to make herself available for sex on demand,” it noted.
Some witnesses had also “produced certain video clips, audio clips, screenshots of WhatsApp messages etc. to establish the fact that there is demand for sex for the very entry into cinema and that certain people in the industry persuade them to make themselves available for sex,” noted the panel, which reported that women faced “sexual harassment even from very well-known people in film industry, who were named before the committee.”
Published - August 20, 2024 08:45 pm IST
