Why a clear understanding of legal provisions of sexual harassment at workplace is need of the hour

The Supreme Court of India gave us the landmark judgment, referred to as the Vishaka Guidelines, in response to the write petition of “Vishaka and others vs. the State of Rajasthan” in 1997. This judgement brought the first-ever legislative action to address sexual harassment at the workplace.These guidelines were effectively the law, till the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal) Act was passed in 2013.

Making workplaces safe for women

In spite of progressive judgments and legislations, we cannot say for a fact that all workplaces in the country are safe for women. Sexual harassment at workplace is the single most under-reported form of violence against women.

We know that women who report sexual harassment are stigmatised, humiliated and most often lose their jobs without a fair inquiry. Time and again, we see institutions, public and private, exhibit a tendency to protect their own when an alleged case of sexual harassment at workplace comes to light.

Is the Supreme Court of India proving to be no different from the many organisations that came under the radar during the #MeToo movement?

The cacophony of conspiracy theories and counter-allegations is taking us away from what we really should be talking about, which is the lack of complete understanding and awareness among lawyers, officers, women’s rights activists, and all female and male employees, of the legally mandated provisions under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act.

The Act mandates every organisation with 10 or more employees to set up an internal committee for the prevention and redressal of sexual harassment within their workplace. While an organisation’s internal process of investigation must be followed, the Act also mandates the setting up of local committees to hear and investigate complaints of sexual harassment. Whether the organisation the woman works for has less than 10 employees, or it does not have an internal committee at all, setting up of local committees is a must.

It is also equally important when the alleged act of sexual harassment has been perpetrated by the employer or the head of an organisation, it is the local committee that must ensure a woman complainant gets justice, precisely because the employer can unduly influence the internal process. It is the local committee’s duty to investigate any complaint brought to it.

Reinforcing govt’s commitment to sexual harassment

Implementation of the 2013 Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act has been lax related to the formation and functioning of local committees. In March 2018, in response to a PIL filed by an NGO, it was the Supreme Court which issued notices to states to implement the Act.

The PIL claimed that the setting up of district officers, nodal agencies, as well as other redressal mechanisms at district level, in the form of Local Complaints Committee, had not been created by many state governments/UTs, even after four years of the Act coming into force throughout India.

In August 2018, a PIL in the Madras High Court specifically sought direction asking the Tamil Nadu government to set up Internal Complaints Committees in all departments and organisations. However, no Internal or Local Complaints Committee was constituted by employers in the state, the PIL alleged.

A 2018 RTI study by Martha Farrell Foundation found that out of 655 districts in the country, only 29 percent replied they had formed local committees. All these point to poor implementation of the provisions of the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act.

The courts have been directing governments, and governments have been urging ASSOCHAM and FICCI to ensure implementation of the Act in the organisations registered with them.

So, isn’t it time we as citizens ask our elected representatives the hard question: when are they going to show their serious intent to address sexual harassment of women at the workplace by ensuring functional local committees in districts across India? Is this even on the manifesto of any political party? Till then, women in the workplace who suffer sexual harassment will continue to be held hostage to the whims and vagaries of internal processes that do not offer them adequate justice.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

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