Introduction :- 

Accusations of sexual assault have spread across India’s social media as the #MeToo movement took aim at prominent journalists, writers, editors and a comedian. Scores of women, many journalists, came out this week with accounts of sexual harassment from colleagues and editors, accusing them of indecent remarks, unwanted touches, demands for sex, and the dissemination of pornography. Many personal stories of anger and guilt, buried under years of silence, emerged out to public media because of this recent campaign.The last couple of years have seen a tidal wave of sexual allegations and accusations against men in professionally powerful positions across the globe, and it seems that finally, this wave has now reached Indian shores.

Central government has launched an online complaint management system called “Sexual Harassment electronic-Box (SHe-Box)’ for registering complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace.Several of the famous people in India have been found to be involved in the Sexual Harassment cases in India like Phaneesh Murthy director of Infosys, Tarun Tejpal editor in chief of Tehelka Magazine, RK Pachauri recently and the latest to get into the imbroglio is TVF’s CEO Arunabh Kumar/

Visakha Case guidelines :- 

• It mentioned that it is the duty of the employer or other responsible persons in work places or other institutions to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment and to provide the procedure for the resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment by taking all steps required.
• It also provided with the range to behaviour that would be termed as sexual harassment, which includes such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour (whether directly or implication) as :-

• physical contact and advances;
• a demand or request for sexual favours;
• sexually coloured remarks;
• showing pornography;
• any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.
•  It also provided with Complaints mechanism by stating that :-
• All workplaces should have an appropriate complaints mechanism with a complaints committee, special counsellor or other support services.
• A woman must head the complaints committee and no less than half its members should be women.
• The committee should include an NGO/individual familiar with the issue of sexual harassment.
• The complaints procedure must be time-bound.
• Confidentiality must be maintained.
• Complainants/witnesses should not experience victimization/discrimination during the process.

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 :-

This act was enacted in April 2013 as India’s first law dealing with the protection of women against sexual harassment at workplace. Some important feature of this act are as follows:-

• This Act aimed to provide every woman, irrespective of her age or employment status, a safe and secure working environment free from all forms of harassment.
• This Act covered both the organized and unorganized sectors in India. The statute applied to all government bodies, private and public sector organizations, non-governmental organizations, organizations carrying out commercial, vocational, educational, entertainment, industrial, financial activities, hospitals etc.
• This Act defined ‘sexual harassment’ in line with the Supreme Court’s definition in the Vishaka Judgment.
• The Act extended the meaning of the word sexual harassment to include “presence or occurrence of circumstances of implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in employment, threat of detrimental treatment in employment, threat about present or future employment, interference with work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment, or humiliating treatment likely to affect the lady employee’s health or safety could also amount to sexual harassment”.
• The Act also introduced the concept of ‘extended workplace’ since sexual harassment is not always confined to the primary place of employment. Therefore, the Act defined ‘workplace’ to include any place visited by the employee arising out of or during the course of employment, including transportation provided by the employer for the purpose of commuting to and from the place of employment.
• The Act provided for the establishment of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at each and every office or branches of the organization employing 10 or more employees, in order to provide a forum for filing complaints to facilitate fast redressal of the grievances pertaining to sexual harassment.
• It also provided for the establishment of local complaints committee (LCC) at the district level by the Government to investigate and redress complaints of sexual harassment of the unorganized sector or from those establishments where the ICC has not been constituted for the reason being, it having less than 10 employees.

Criticism of the Act :-

• The implementation of the law remains heavily skewed in favour of the harasser. In many instances, the strongest penalty molesters may face is his contract being terminated.
• His next employer will probably have no clue about the recruit’s record. There is little data on the number of cases that have eventually reached the district officer in order to have penal action initiated against the harasser
• The Act doesn’t cover the members of the Armed Forces and agricultural workers who form the majority of the workforce. 
• Lack of initiative on the part of government authorities to monitor the implementation and enforce the law.
• The government at the State level has not even bothered to appoint district officers or local committees under the 2013 Act.
• There are no appointments of nodal officers or internal complaints committees in certain offices.
• There has been no move to ensure the reporting and collection of annual compliance reports from workplaces. Hence, the law meant to protect working women has hit a roadblock.

Conclusion :-

Union Minister for Women and Child Development said they would set up a panel of legal experts to look into the #MeToo allegations. Civil Society and NGOs are trying to see how the movement can be taken beyond its current confines of urban centres. The hope now is that sexual harassment at workplace will cease to be condoned or brushed under the carpet. SDG 5 is about gender equality and Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.

They address global challenges, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. The Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, the target is to achieve them by 2030. Sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement resonated at the opening plenary session of the fifth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research with speakers highlighting how this is just the “tip of the iceberg” and there is a long road ahead in achieving sustainable development goals with leaders sometimes being sexual harassers.

The #MeToo movement has shown us that even the most privileged among women have not been spared from cultures of sexual harassment and exploitation. Not just a healthy balance sheet but a healthy and free work environment is most is the hallmark of a successful company, but the 2015 FICCI report found that 36% of all companies were still not in compliance with the Act.

Even in the TVF’s case, it is apparent that the company did not create an environment that encouraged women to file complaints about being molested. Former employees had to take to social media to highlight problems that should, under normal circumstances, have been dealt with by internal institutional mechanisms