Mistreatment of female artistes and technicians in Malayalam movie world was never a secret but the matter was never disclosed as the victims never ventured to reveal the atrocities they faced for fear of social boycott. When a well-known heroine was sexually assaulted in Kochi a few years ago, the matter came before the public. Further, the women working in cinema formed an association namely Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) to take the matter up and met Chief Minister. Soon a commission was constituted with Justice Hema, actress Sarada and former IAS officer K B Valsalakumari, to conduct an enquiry and submit a report.
After a thorough enquiry with the victims and spending Rs 1.60 crores for its working, the Commission submitted a 295-page report to the state government on December 31, 2019 but the government never disclosed the report under the plea that it contained many confidential information and as such can not be made public.

The media appealed to the Information Commissioner for the disclosure of the report and after due deliberations, the Commissioner directed the state government to disclose the content of the report, without the confidential part, by July 25. The ministry of culture should submit the copy of this report to the Information Commissioner and ensure that the order is carried out. If he failed to do so, the public information officer of the Ministry of culture should present himself before the State Information Commissioner on July 27, the order says. State minister Saji Cherian told the media that the entire report without the confidential part would be disclosed as per the directive. There were complaints about sexual exploitation and those who did not submit were sidelined in the industry, the WCC had complained. In a chat with the media, a WCC activist and actress explained that the revelation of the names of culprits would only help raising doubts about the veracity of the enquiry. What they wanted was to make security for women working in film world. Women wanted to use toilet facilities if needed while working in film set and also to get protection during their return to home after shooting at night, she added.