Government efforts to make the workplace safer for women, especially against sexual harassment, sadly have few takers in the private sector. The results of a survey carried out by a private firm on compliance of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 are shocking to say the least. Far from implementing the Act, 97 per cent of private establishments, which would also include media houses, are not even aware about the law and its implementation!
Worse, the responses to RTI applications by the company, Complykaro, have revealed that only a solitary State— BJP-ruled Rajasthan—has appointed the mandatory Local Complaints Committee and Nodal Officers through its District Officers for monitoring of the law, whereas seven others --- Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Goa, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand --- have since partially initiated the process.
Apparently, according to the Company there are several myths related to the law such as one need not comply in case there are no women employees or if you are a small or medium enterprise. Further, companies also feel that the law is for the protection of women employees only and not all women involved. Most of them don’t know that an organisation is liable even if the victim is not an employee.
In a reply to a question during the monsoon session of Parliament, the Women & Child Development Ministry stated that over 520 cases of sexual harassment of women at work place were reported during 2014 of which 57 cases were reported at the office premises and 469 registered at other places related to work. This is a country of over 1.2 billion people.
Clearly, the Women and Child Development Ministry has a big challenge to not only create awareness of the law but to ensure its strict compliance. However, according to reports its efforts in this direction have not been easy. It had written to the Corporate Affairs Ministry asking it to notify the constitution of Internal Complaints Committee as a mandatory disclosure under Section 134 of the Companies Act, but the response so far has been rather discouraging.
Under the law, it has become mandatory to have an anti-sexual harassment policy in place as well as for a committee to be formed in addition to reports being filed with the Government for the same. The aim being that women in particular were protected against sexual harassment at all work places-- be it public or private.
The law, many would be unaware is an offshoot of the Supreme Court’s Vishakha guidelines. The background of the case being that during the 1990s, the most controversial and brutal gang rape at the workplace involved a Rajasthan State government employee, Bhanwari Devi, who tried to prevent child marriage as part of her duties as a worker of the Women Development Programme.
The feudal patriarchs/upper castes who were enraged by her (in their words: “a lowly woman from a poor and potter community”) ‘guts’ decided to teach her a lesson and raped her repeatedly. After an extremely humiliating legal battle in the Rajasthan High Court the rape survivor did not get justice and the rapists were allowed to go free. This enraged a women's rights group called Vishakha that filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court.
In its landmark judgement (Vishakha and others Vs the State of Rajasthan) in 1977 the Court was of the firm view that sexual harassment is a gross violation of a women’s right to equality and dignity and was an infringement of the fundamental rights of a woman, under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India “to practice any profession or to carry out any occupation, trade or business”. It thus laid down guidelines to be followed by establishments in dealing with complaints about sexual harassments. It stated that these were to be implemented until legislation is passed to deal with the issue.
Thus in 2013 the law, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 finally came into existence. It improves on the guidelines and seeks to ensure that it is the duty of the employer or other responsible persons in the workplace or institution to: Prevent sexual harassment; Provide mechanisms for the resolution of complaints; All women who draw a regular salary, receive an honorarium, or work in a voluntary capacity in the government, private sector or unorganised sector come under the purview of these guidelines.
The Complaints mechanism is crystal clear: 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 victimisation/discrimination during the process.
However, efforts should be made to have preventive measures: Sexual harassment should be affirmatively discussed at workers’ meetings, employer-employee meetings, etc; Guidelines should be prominently displayed to create awareness about the rights of female employees; The employer should assist persons affected in cases of sexual harassment by outsiders; Central and State governments must adopt measures, including legislation, to ensure that private employers also observe the guidelines; Names and contact numbers of members of the complaints committee must be prominently displayed.
The Act deals with various sections and must be read by all stakeholders. And while the Government must ensure that it is implemented in both letter and spirit by erring establishments, the women must take the lead. Demand constitution of the ICC at every workplace.
