A spirited debate

A consultation organised by Oxfam India and Lawyers Collective at the University of Mumbai, Kalina Campus yesterday, threw light on various aspects of the Sexual Harassment Act At The Workplace

Women Power
(Clockwise) Kranti Jejurkar, Chairperson, Women's Development Cell, Mumbai University discussed harassment faced by teachers and students at various institutions in the city.
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She lamented the fact that sometimes students are too hesitant to come forward and inform them of the situation; Anuya Warty has extensively worked on sexual harassment cases faced by women police officers.

She discussed a case study where a woman police officer had just returned to her work after maternity leave. Said Warty, "The female police officer's boss asked her, what happened to your figure? This sort of remark can amount to sexual harassment.
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Many might argue that this remark was made due to lack of eloquence. So it is a grey area. What might amount to sexual harassment for me, might be absolutely normal for somebody else.

The question is how do we judge that"; Professor Kannamma Raman, Department of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai said, "Sexual harassment has nothing to do with mental illness and the acts performed by the accused are all planned."

Raman pointed out that in sexual harassment cases most of the accused are portrayed as patients with some psychological problem; Dr. Suhasini Nagda , Dean of Nair Hospital and the Chairperson of the Savitribai Phule Gender Resource Centre, BMC said that quick redressal is the need of the hour.

Lessonsu00a0Learnt
The Supreme Court of India issued the Vishakha judgment and guidelines nearly 14 years ago. According to the judgment, a complaint committee should be there at various organisations to address problems related to sexual harassment.

The Complaints Committee should be headed by a woman and not less than half of its member should be women.



The committee should involve a third party, either an NGO or another body who is familiar with the issue of sexual harassment. The speakers at the event said that such a committee did not exist in most private companies.

"Absence of a committee can amount to contempt of court and strict action can be taken against companies who do not have such committees.
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The Maharashtra State Commission for Women should take this up seriously," said Asha Bajpai of the Centre for Socio-legal studies and Human Rights, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

Transferring the guilty to a different place or a different department cannot be a solution. Infact the results of the findings of a complaint committee should be made public.
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This will serve as a warning to others and prevent them from committing such acts. Victims should not be afraid to speak out.


Companies under scanner
Anagha Sarpotdar, an independent consultant, who has also been a member of various complaints committee said that most private companies, which are more concerned about their image, settle sexual harassment cases informally or a verbal inquiry is made by the Head of the Department. "Even if some companies have policies, they are not in sync with the Vishakha guidelines," said Sarpotdar.


Redress Mechanism for Sexual Harassment at workplace
A panel discussion on the redressal mechanism wasu00a0 was chaired by professor Asha Bajpai (on extreme right) of the Centre for Socio-legal studies and Human Rights, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Panelists said that a time frame should be givenu00a0 during which the committee members should come up with a decision on cases related to sexual harassment as delay can be traumatic to the victims.

Previous Cases
>> Former Infosys Technologies director Phaneesh Murthy had quit Infosys after a former employee of Infosys , Reka Maximovitch, filed a sexual harassment case against him.

The case was settled in after Infosys agreed to pay $3 million in an out of court settlement. He was again charged of another sexual harassment by a former employee of Infosys Jennifer Griffith.

>> A hotel maid had accused former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her. The charges against him were however dismissed.

>> In 2010, the golden boy of publishing, David Davidar was accused of sexual harassment by his Penguin Canada colleague Lisa Rundle. Davidar left Penguin subsequently though the matter was settled out of court.u00a0u00a0

Conclusion
While sexual harassment at workplace has been debated time and again, the big question is What kind of behaviour amounts to sexual harassment? In many cases the challenge is to prove that a woman has been sexually harassed.

"Sometimes witnesses are not available against the accused. Often witnesses refuse to speak against the accused. In such cases it becomes difficult to even proceed with the case," said Advocate Albertina Almeida, Lawyer and Member, Complaints Committee.
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"Once the case comes before the committee, the decision, is often given in favour of the accused as, most members of the complaint committee are from the company. Only one member is from outside. So the presence of an independent organisation becomes important.
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This organisation can in turn fast track cases related to sexual harassment," explained Asha Bajpai (on extreme right) of the Centre for Socio-legal studies and Human Rights, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).