The Supreme Court in a judgment in 1997 laid the Vishaka guidelines, which are legally binding, defined sexual harassment and imposed three key parameters on the institutions i.e., prohibition, prevention and redressal. Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) legislation passed by the Parliament in December, 2013 is the landmark law in gender protection. Together with the Criminal Law Amendments to Sections 354A, 354B, 354C & 354D of the Indian Penal Code, (treating harassment as criminal offences) the act constitutes a determined response to meet the challenge of Sexual Harassment of women at the workplace.

Body:

Features of the act:

• The Act defines sexual harassment at the workplace and creates a mechanism for redressal of complaints. It also provides safeguards against false or malicious charges.
• Every employer is required to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee at each office or branch with 10 or more employees.
• The Complaints Committees have the powers of civil courts for gathering evidence.
• The Complaints Committees are required to provide for conciliation before initiating an inquiry if requested by the complainant.
• Penalties have been prescribed for employers. Non-compliance with the provisions of the Act shall be punishable with a fine.
• Repeated violations may lead to higher penalties and cancellation of license or registration to conduct business.

Loopholes and inadequacies in the act:

• It fails to cover those women working in the agricultural workers and armed forces, which are largely men – dominated sectors.
• The act appears to be gender biased since it only protects women.
• The act has a wide scope for false allegations. There are high chances of these laws getting misused at the hands of women for their personal benefits.
• The Act does not satisfactorily address accountability. Notably, it does not specify who is in charge of ensuring that workplaces comply with the Act, and who can be held responsible if its provisions are not followed.
• Many organizations have not constituted an Internal Complaints Committee. Further, women rights activists point out that organizations generally view sexual harassment cases from the perspective of their public image and not as a breach to individual employee’s breach to dignity and safety. This often leads to hushing up of cases.
• Most of the ICCs lack people who have knowledge about legal technicalities involved in conducting the inquiry, cross-examinations and its importance.
• The Act and Rules do not contain any provision to address anonymous complaints and, from a strict reading of the Act and the Rules, it appears that a complaint should be made by the victim herself or any other person she authorises. However, employers often find that complaints are made anonymously or that the complainant does not want to be identified.
• The employer is under an obligation to submit an annual report on redressal of complaints of sexual harassment to such authorities as may be notified under the Act. Many states have not issued a notification determining the authority.
• A survey conducted by Indian National Bar Association revealed that nearly 70% of women did not complain about sexual harassment at workplace due to fear, embarrassment, lack of confidence in complaint mechanism, unawareness, and due to stigma attached to sexual harassment.
• Cases of sexual harassment of domestic workers have been specifically excluded from the purview of the Bill.

Measures needed:

• State governments should take on the responsibility of enforcing implementation
• Greater gender diversity at the workplace—an area where India lags.
• Sensitise female employees to their rights and the guidelines.
• There has to be a sense of fear in the mind of the offenders which has to be ensured.
• There must also be equal punishment to women who make false charges.
• Any complaint of rape should have a time bar and complaints cannot be entertained beyond certain time limit.
• The attitudinal change, socialisation process and education must go towards making man more sensitive while dealing with women.
• The process of making sexual harassment complaints should be
• Workplace audits should be as big a priority as auditing the finances of the company.
• The law that mandate that the investigation should be completed within 90 days should be strictly adhered to.
• Adequate workshops and awareness programme against sexual harassment must be conducted across the organisation

Conclusion:

The issue of sexual harassment cannot be addressed by mere enactment of laws. Sincere efforts need to be made in overcoming stereotypes, narrow-mindedness and gender biasness. A more gender-neutral approach needs to be taken to address sexual harassment.