Sexual Harassment at Workplace

Administrative Training Institute

Prof. K.S. Suresh

Principal
JSS Law College
Autonomous
Mysore
 Vishaka and others Vs State of Rajasthan
(AIR 1997 SUPREME COURT 3011)

• The cause for this writ petition was an incident of

alleged brutal gang rape of a social worker in a village
of Rajasthan.
• The incident reveals:
– The hazards to which a working woman may be exposed.
– The depravity to which sexual harassment can degenerate;
– The urgency for safeguards by an alternative mechanism
in the absence of legislative measures.
– In the absence of legislative measures, the need is to find
an affective alternative mechanism to fulfill this felt and
urgent social need.

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 Constitutional Provisions
Art. 15. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion,
race, caste, sex or place,of birth.-
– (1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on
only of religion,race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of
them.
– (2) xxx xxx xxx
– (3) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from
making any special provision for women and children.
Art. 42. Provision for just and humane conditions of work
and maternity relief .
– The State shall make provision for securing just and
humane conditions of work and for maternity relief..
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 CEDAW 1979
• India is a signatory for Convention on the Elimination of all
forms of Discrimination Against Women
• Ratified in 1993, but no legislative response was made.
• Presently, civil and penal laws in India do not adequately
provide for specific protection of women from sexual
harassment in work Places,
• The enactment of such legislation will take considerable time.
• Hence It is necessary and expedient for employers in work
places as well as other responsible persons or institutions to
observe certain guidelines to ensure the prevention of sexual
harassment of women

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 Guidelines
It shall be the duty of the employer:
– to prevent or deter the commission of acts of sexual harassment.
– and to provide the procedures for the resolution, settlement or
prosecution of acts of sexual harassment by taking all steps required.
Definition : For this purpose, sexual harassment includes such unwelcome
sexually determined behaviour (Whether directly or by implication) as :
a) Physical contact and advances;
b) a demand or request for sexual favours;
c) sexually coloured remarks;
d) showing pornography;
e) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non - verbal conduct of
sexual nature.

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 Preventive Steps:
(a) Express prohibition of sexual harassment as defined above at the work
place should be notified, published and circulated in appropriate ways.
(b) The Rules/Regulations of Government and Public Sector bodies relating to
conduct and discipline should include rules/regulations prohibiting sexual
harassment and provide for appropriate penalties in such rules against the
offender.
(c) As regards private employers, steps should be taken to include the
aforesaid prohibitions in the standing orders under the Industrial
Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.
(d) Appropriate work conditions should be provided in respect of work,
leisure, health and hygiene to further ensure that there is no hostile
environment towards women at work places and no employee woman
should have reasonable grounds to believe that she is disadvantaged in
connection with her employment.

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 Criminal Proceedings :
• Where such conduct amounts to a specific offence under the
Indian Penal Code or under any other law, the employer shall
initiate appropriate action in accordance with law by making
a complaint with the appropriate authority.
• In particular, witnesses are not to be victimized or
discriminated against while dealing with complaints. The
victims should have the option to seek transfer of the
perpetrator or their own transfer.
Disciplinary Action :
• If such conduct amounts to misconduct in employment as
defined by the relevant service rules, appropriate disciplinary
action should be initiated by the employer in accordance
with those rules.
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 Complaint Mechanism :
• The complaint mechanism, referred to above, should provide,
where necessary,
– Complaints Committee,
– a special counsellor or other support service, including the
maintenance of confidentiality.
– The Complaints Committee should be headed by a woman
and not less than half of its member should be women.
– a third party, either NGO or other body who is familiar
with the issue of sexual harassment.
• The Complaints Committee must make an annual report to
the Government department concerned of the complaints
and action taken by them.

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 Miscellaneous
– Workers Initiative.
– Awareness.
– Third Party Harassment.
– The Central / State Governments are requested to
consider adopting suitable measures including
legislation.
– To be ensured that it is observed by the
employers in Private Sector.
– These guidelines will not prejudice any rights available
under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.

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THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN
FROM DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE, ACT 2005
 Status of Women
Police records for the country show
– A woman is molested every 26 minutes.
– A rape occurs every 34 minutes.
– Every 42 minutes an incident of sexual
harassment takes place.
– A woman is kidnapped every 43 minutes.
– And every 93 minutes, a woman is killed.

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 Status of Women
• It is estimated that around 600,000 to 820,000
men, women, and children are trafficked across
international borders each year;
• Approximately 80 percent are women and girls;
and up to 50 percent are minors;
• It is a global Industry of 5 $ Billion next to drugs (
25 - 30000 crore ).
• 3,00,0000 – 4,00,000 are trafficked per year in
Asia.
• Indian Share is the largest.

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 Status of Women
Some Bright Spots
– India has world's largest number of
professionally qualified women.
– India has largest population of working
women in the world.
– India has more number of doctors,
surgeons, scientists, professors than the
United States

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 THE PROTECTION OF WOMEN FROM DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE, ACT 2005
Objects of the Act
• Domestic Violence Act 2005 is the first significant
attempt in India to recognise domestic abuse as a
punishable offence.
• Provides for civil remedy as well.
• It extends its provisions to those in live-in
relationships, and to provide for emergency relief
for the victims, in addition to legal recourse.
• Domestic violence is among the most prevalent
and among the least reported forms of cruel
behavior
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 Objects of the Act
• Till the year 2005, remedies available to a victim
of domestic violence in the civil courts (divorce)
and criminal courts (vide Section 498A of the
Indian Penal Code) were limited,
• There was no emergency relief available to the
victim,
• The remedies that were available were linked to
matrimonial proceedings,
• The court proceedings were always protracted,
during which period the victim was invariably at
the mercy of the abuser.
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 Objects of the Act
• The relationships outside marriage were not
recognised.
• This set of circumstances ensured that a
majority of women preferred to suffer in
silence.
• It was essentially to address these anomalies
hence the Protection of Women from
Domestic Violence Act was passed in 2005

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 Objects of the Act
1. An Act to provide for more effective protection of the rights of
women.
2. Protection of the Rights guaranteed under the Constitution.
3. For the victims of violence of any kind occurring within the family
and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
4. This Act takes into account domestic violence in all type of
relationship.
5. The Act is a proactive law which takes into account all types of
violence in modern day families
6. The Act recognizes relationship between two persons who live or
have, at any point of time, lived together in a shared household.
7. The relationship may be of consanguinity, marriage, or through a
relationship in the nature of marriage, adoption or are family
members living together as a joint family;

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 Definitions
Definition of Domestic Violence (Section 3)
For the purposes of this Act, any act, omission or commission or
conduct of the respondent shall constitute domestic violence in
case it –
(a) harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-
being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends
to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal
and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or (Abuse)
(b) harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a
view to coerce her or any other person related to
her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property
or valuable security; or ( Demand for gain)
(c) has the effect of threatening the aggrieved
person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned
in clause (a) or clause (b); or(d) otherwise injures or causes harm,
whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.
( Threat to others )

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 Definitions
(i) "physical abuse" means any act or conduct which is of
such a nature as to cause bodily pain, harm, or danger
to life, limb, or health or impair the health or
development of the aggrieved person and includes
assault, criminal intimidation and criminal force;
(ii) "sexual abuse" includes any conduct of a sexual
nature that abuses, humiliates, degrades or otherwise
violates the dignity of woman;
(iii) "verbal and emotional abuse" includes-
(a) insults, ridicule, humiliation, name calling and insults or
ridicule specially with regard to not having a child or a
male child; and
(b) repeated threats to cause physical pain to any person in
whom the aggrieved person is interested.

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 Definitions
(iv) "economic abuse" includes-
(a) deprivation of all or any economic or financial resources to which
the aggrieved person is entitled under any law or custom whether
payable under an order of a court or otherwise or which the aggrieved
person requires out of necessity including, but not limited to,
household necessities for the aggrieved person and her children, if
any, stridhan, property, jointly or separately owned by the aggrieved
person, payment of rental related to the shared household and
maintenance;
(b) disposal of household effects, any alienation of assets whether
movable or immovable, valuables, shares, securities, bonds and the
like or other property in which the aggrieved person has an interest
or is entitled to use by virtue of the domestic relationship or which
may be reasonably required by the aggrieved person or her children
or her stridhan or any other property jointly or separately held by the
aggrieved person; and
(c) prohibition or restriction to continued access to resources or
facilities which the aggrieved person is entitled to use or enjoy by
virtue of the domestic relationship including access to the shared
household.
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 Definitions
Protection Officer
– Protection officers are empowered for
receiving the complaint of a domestic
violence In each district.
– The govt. shall appoint protection
officers by notification .
– Such protection officers shall be
women preferably.
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 Definitions
Duties of protection officers (Section 9 )
1. To assist the Magistrate.
2. To make a domestic Incident Report and forward it to
Magistrate and Police Officials.
3. Make application for claiming relief of issuance of protection
order.
4. If desired, to provide legal aid under Legal services authority
Act.
5. To maintain the list of all service providers.
6. To make available safe shelter homes.
7. To get aggrieved person medically examined.
8. To ensure that monetary relief under Sec 20 of Cr.P.C .
9. To perform other duties.
10. Protection officer to be under the supervision of magistrate

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 Service Providers
• Under Sec 10 Voluntary organizations registered under
Society Registration Act / Companies Act or any other
Law with the objective of protecting the rights of women
and providing legal aid, medical, financial and other
assistance.
• They can get themselves registered as service providers
under the Act.
• The service providers have the powers of recording the
domestic incident report, get the aggrieved person
medically examined and ensure that the aggrieved
person is provided shelter.
• The section provides immunity to service providers from
law suits.

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 Other Provisions
Duties of Government
• The Central as well as State Govt shall publicize the provision of this
Act for general public, sensitise and train its officials, ensure
effective coordination for the implementation of the law under
Section 11.
Application
• Application of an aggrieved person is submitted to the
magistrate(Sec-12).The magistrate can direct for counseling (Sec
14) and also take support of an expert (Sec15).
Right to reside
• This act provides the right to residency even during pendency of the
case and also ensures that the aggrieved person shall not be
evicted or excluded from the shared household except by
procedure established by law (Sec 17).

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 Other Provisions
Protection Order
• The magistrate can pass a protection order and prohibit the
respondent from committing any domestic violence , aiding
or abetting such violence, entering the school or work place,
attempt to communicate in any form, alienating from
property bank account and sthridhan.
• It also protects the aggrieved persons relatives and
dependants from any violence by the respondents (Sec 18).
• The magistrate after hearing may pass orders providing
Residence orders (Sec 19) and monetary reliefs (Sec 20).
Act not in derogation of any other law
• The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to and not in
derogation of any other law.

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 Other Provisions
Punishment
• Under Sec 31(1), A breach of protection order, or of an interim
protection order, by the respondent shall be an offence under this Act
and shall be punishable with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to one year, or with
fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees, or with
both.
• Under Section 31(3) While framing charges under sub-section
31(1), the Magistrate may also frame charges under section
498A of the Indian Penal Code 1860 or any other provision of
that Code or the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (28 of 1961), as
the case may be, if the facts disclose the commission of an
offence under those provisions.

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 Abuse and Suggestions
1. Prima-facie a woman should not get any interim relief if
there are no visible signs of torture.
2. If the complainant woman has alleged against all/many of
her in-laws’ side, then reasonable doubt can be cast on
the genuineness of the complaint.
3. Even if a single innocent man/woman has been wrongly
implicated then that should be a fact enough to punish
the complainant woman.
4. She should not get any financial assistance because that
will further encourage the bad behavior.
5. If the complainant woman is educated, then she should
be encouraged to be self-dependent.
6. Educated and qualified women should not be eligible for
any financial assistance from their husbands.

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Thank You