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Raj Kumar Makkad (Adv P & H High Court Chandigarh)     21 June 2010

FIRST THE BILL, THEN THE WILL

Locker room talk, personal remarks and unsolicited advances will all get the official stamp of disapproval if the draft bill on s*xual harassment is passed by the Cabinet next month. This comes 13 years after the Supreme Court framed the Vishaka guidelines on s*xual harassment at the workplace. The draft bill based on these guidelines has been around since 2001 — an alternative one was framed in 2004 — but so far, few employers have complied with even the minimum requirement of having a workplace committee to look into women employees' grievances. The draft now also covers the unorganised sector where women workers have been most vulnerable as well as students. The fact that there are safeguards against false complaints will make it more acceptable all round. It is worrying that even government institutions have so far been tardy in setting up committees to look into cases of harassment despite the Supreme Court ruling that their word would be final. This suggests that employers don't treat this as a priority. The challenge will be to make the bill effective in the unorganised sector. Many units in this sector aren't even registered, have casual labour and operate beyond the purview of the law. A woman who is harassed in the agricultural sector isn't likely to have recourse to a committee that can address her complaints. The main stumbling block in this very welcome bill is the lack of awareness of its existence in a majority of workplaces. A concerted effort must be made to make women aware that the law is on their side when they face s*xual abuse at the workplace. The other problem is that men, who are generally the harassers, don't view lewd remarks or improper suggestions as harmful or demeaning to a woman's dignity. The attitude is that 'boys will be boys' and that this goes with the territory. In an age when more women are rising to supervisory positions in the workplace, it might also be worthwhile to ensure that s*xual harassment isn't viewed through a gender-specific prism. But these flaws will get ironed out in due course of time. The positive aspect is that the law recognises s*xual harassment as a crime against women and has taken measures to make the workplace safer for them. Once the bill is passed, it's crucial that a mechanism is evolved to ensure that its provisions are complied with. Otherwise, like so many well-meaning legislations aimed at empowering women, this too will remain on paper.


 1 Replies


(Guest)

Sh. Raj Kumar ji,


Sir, with respect I may like to know if you have gone over the draft bill, you will be schoked to see how gender biased it is especially towards rmen and homos*xuals.. Sexual Harassment at workplace crimes are gender neutral the world over since all countries recognize the fact that men and women can be equally victimized under this crime. India by making it a male only offence is taking a leap back in time.


In my profile under FILES section click on the PDF link which points to a PDF file that shows the relevant areas of the RTI response received from the WCD, highlighting the file notings during the drafting process of the SHWB. The first column titled “Gist of comment / suggestion” lists the representations received from the Indian public. The second column titled “Number of comments” shows the number of such representations received and the third and final column titled “Response” lists the reply that the WCD ministry has for accepting or rejecting these representations. The PDF depicts how the WCD ministry deliberately trampled overwhelming public opinion seeking a gender neutral s*xual harassment at workplace act .


I with respect to your kindself as a common man now would love to hear your expert comment on the gender nature of SHWB for common consumption.


There is no doubt that the WCD ministry has deliberately ignored s*xual harassment laws the world over, nor has it used credible research on s*xual harassment laws and statistics which are easily and widely available, to learn and understand that this crime is gender neutral. I hereby most respectfully reiterate my demands that the firstly WCD Ministry and NCW must be relieved from law making with immediate effect and be replaced by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and secondly men and homos*xuals must be offered equal protection under the s*xual harassment at workplace act and thus the bill must be amended to make sure that adequate language in incorporated to achieve the same.


With regards,
 


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