Sometimes, it feels like justice in India wears noise-cancelling headphones. It only listens when the volume is maxed out, when the screams are too loud to ignore. But the moment it gets a chance to press pause, it does. And this time, that pause has turned into a full stop.

All 35 cases that were rooted in the Hema Committee Report have been dropped. Just like that. The system doesn’t even flinch anymore.

Let’s me take you to past. Back in 2017, the Malayalam film industry was rattled. A woman actor was abducted and assaulted, and for once, the outrage was too real to brush aside. The state stepped in. A committee was formed, led by retired Justice K. Hema. It was supposed to be a bold move to document and expose the murky underbelly of abuse, misogyny, and unchecked power in Mollywood. People spoke. Women shared their stories. They trusted the system to do something.

And what did the system do? It sat on the report. For years. Handful of long years of silence. When the report was finally made public in 2022, it was a redacted shadow of what it should have been. The names were missing. The fire was diluted. And now, in 2025, we’re told that every single one of the 35 cases tied to it has been thrown out. Because not a single victim came forward to testify.

Hema Committee Report dropped. Why? You know what that sounds like? Not a failure of courage. But a failure of protection. A failure of support. A failure of the very system that asked people to come forward in the first place.

If you’re someone who’s ever been in a workplace where power dynamics suffocate truth, you’ll get this. It’s one thing to speak up. It’s another to do it knowing you’ll lose work, face backlash, be called a liar or worse, be ignored. And that’s exactly what happened here. The women who spoke to the Hema Committee already did the hard part. They spoke. They gave their stories. But what came after? No safety net. No legal aid. No assurance that their names wouldn’t be splashed across headlines or that they wouldn’t be blacklisted.

So when the Kerala government and SIT (Special Investigation Team) say they dropped the cases due to “lack of testimony,” let’s be honest; that’s just a convenient way of saying, “We couldn’t be bothered to make these women feel safe enough to keep going.”

And let’s talk about the timing. As the SIT was winding down its probe, there was talk of a big, shiny “film conclave” being planned for August. Policies will be discussed. Guidelines will be polished. Speeches will be made about creating a safer industry. But who’s it really for? Because clearly, the women who risked everything to speak to the Hema Committee have already been left out in the cold.

It’s maddening. There was a moment in 2017 when it felt like real change was possible. The Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) was rising. The old boys’ club was shaken. Big names were being questioned. But over time, the walls closed in. People got quiet again. The powerful returned to their posts. And now, we’re being told to move on.

But we shouldn’t. Because what this really is, is a win for silence. It tells every survivor watching from the sidelines, “Don’t bother. Even if you speak, nothing will happen.”

And maybe the saddest part? It worked. The fear worked. The apathy worked. The machinery of delay, denial, and distraction did exactly what it was built to do. It protected the status quo.

Actor Parvathy Thiruvoth called it out. She said what many of us were thinking, that this is not closure, it’s betrayal. And she’s right. You don’t get to claim justice just because no one came forward in court, when you did everything to make sure they wouldn’t.

So what now? Another committee? Another report that collects dust? Another policy draft that promises much and delivers nothing?

Or maybe we try something radical. Maybe we actually listen. Actually protect. Actually act.

Because if we don’t, the next woman who’s harassed on set, or assaulted in a van, or silenced with threats, won’t even bother to whisper. She’ll know that the system doesn’t just fail her. It buries her truth. And celebrates the silence.

And that’s the real crime here.

Not that the 35 cases were dropped.

But that they were never really given a chance.