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A Critical Analysis of Laws Relating To Safety of Women at Workplace
A Critical Analysis of Laws Relating To Safety of Women at Workplace
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DIGVIJAYA SRIVASTAVA1
ABSTRACT
It has been years since India regained her freedom and we made a promise to ourselves
to reinstate India to its former glory and embarked upon a journey to become a developed
nation .We resolved to promote among us fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual
and unity and integrity of the nation.The fathers of our constitution bestowed upon every
citizen of India, equal rights and opportunities, especial provisions were made regarding
women ,since they had been a neglected and undermined population of our country .We
signed and adopted several International conventions aimed at alleviating the situation of
women. Ideals like ‘Democracy’ and ‘rule of law’ were to be our guiding light. To a
great extent, we have succeeded in our resolve. However, frequent acts of persecution
towards half of our population i.e. women, casts a serious doubt upon the credibility of
the claim.. Over the years, cases of sexual harassment of women at workplaces have
increased drastically. These harassments are nothing but a violation of the rights of
women as enshrined under Articles- 14, 15, 19 (1) (g) and 21 of the Constitution of India.
The Supreme Court in Vishakha & Others v. State of Rajasthan & Others gave certain
elaborate guidelines to be followed by the employer to ensure the safety of women
employees. These guidelines, though promising, were devoid of any legal backing and
filled with certain technical loopholes. It was long afterwards in 2013 that “The Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplaces (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
was passed by the Indian Parliament.
The following research aims to analyse the prevalence of cases of sexual harassment and
the technical flaws and effect of the enactments aimed to curb it. It follows the doctrinal
mode of study and uses a variety of qualitative and quantitative data for purpose of
analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
Since the days of yore, women have been subjected to various kinds of humiliations,
harassments and discriminations in every part of the world, in every civilization . India, being
1
Author is a student at Chanakya National Law University, Patna, India.
no exception to it, also has a history of treating women as second class citizens, devoid of
many primary rights .One of the most gruesome and worst form of crime against women
alarmingly prevalent in our society is the crime of sexual harassment of women done or
perpetrated by men in various capacities.
In the modern market economy, ever since the end of world wars, the concept of a working
woman has evolved in which women do all kinds of works in various capacities, comprising
of a huge working population, contributing immensely in our nation’s economy. Apart from
their economic importance, even the constitution of India provides them with various
fundamental of equality, freedom to work and live with dignity. But these fundamental of
women are glaringly challenged by the heinous act of sexual harassment of women especially
in their workplaces. These harassments may be done by their bosses, clients, colleagues and
in some cases, even teachers.
It has been observed in most of such cases that it is the men in authoritative positions who
sexually harass their female junior employees since they consider themselves of having some
imaginary “right” over their female juniors and they are plagued by the dogmatic thinking
that any woman who comes out of her traditional role to work and earn must necessarily be a
woman of loose/easy virtue and are easily approachable for immoral purposes.
They often make unethical, immoral advances, make use of threat at times or give them a
greed for money or promotion. In several cases they even try to force themselves on the
unwilling woman by several coercive methods.
This whole experience is unimaginably traumatizing for such a woman and may even force
her to take up extreme steps like suicide. These above mentioned incidences often discourage
parents from sending their female children to work in offices numerically dominated by
males, fearing the compromise of the safety of their child at the hands of men whom they
consider as potential harasser. This becomes a prime reason for mass female unemployment
in our nation, thus hampering its economic advancement and development.
guidelines for protection of women at their workplace at their workplace, famously known as
the Vishaka guidelines.
These guidelines were aimed at providing woman with safe and healthy environment at her
workplace. Supreme Court has also observed in this case that such sexual harassments are
paramount violation of human rights. These guidelines are both binding and to be
mandatorily followed at all workplaces whether it comes under public sector or private
sector. It aims to make the employer of the workplace obligated to provide safe environment
to the women working in his workplace.
Although the Vishaka guidelines have helped to create awareness among both men and
women in all sectors of economy and has also successfully dealt with the cases of violation of
guidelines with the aid of a complaint mechanism, but the situation of women is far from
satisfactory given too various legal and technical loopholes in the guidelines and to the
stubborn and dogmatic thinking of the patriarchal society.
The parliament has, in the wake of the various incidents and direction given by the Supreme
Court passed the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition &
Redressal) Act, 2013 which provides necessary legal backing to the guidelines. The Act, in
force for many years now, has proven to be much efficient in curbing the malice of sexual
harassment at workplace and has a long way to go.
There is a sick tradition of child marriage prevalent in most rural parts of Rajasthan.
Bhanwari Devi was a rural area based social worker/ Saathin in a scheme run and funded by
the government of Rajasthan. She fought against this tradition of child marriage as well as
other prevalent malpractices.
In her official capacity, she tried to prevent the marriage of an infant 2 years old child of a
local man named Ramkaran Gujjar, she took the aid of the local authorities for this purpose.
She was socially boycotted by Gujjars in particulars and whole society in general. Since she
was meddling with religious affairs of the society. On September 1992, five men, including
Ramkaran Gujjar gang raped Bhanwari Devi in front of her husband, while they were
ploughing their fields, as a part of the grudge they held against Bhanwari Devi.
Both Bhanwari Devi and her husband, apart from already existing social boycott, also had to
face social humiliation. The doctor of the primary health centre refused to examine her and
same was the case with the doctor Jaipur, who only noted down her age and did not mention
Both Bhanwari Devi and her husband were taunted by policemen and lady officers and their
plea to be granted police protection was also turned down by them. The trial court due to lack
of any evidences acquitted the accused person. Despite such a setback, Bhanwari Devi was
determined to fight the system and she launched pan India campaign which included
women’s rights activists and Saathins at a large scale.
On an appeal to trial court’s decision, the High court held that it was a case of “rape which
was committed out of vengeance".
The campaign that was started by Bhanwari Devi resulted into filing of a petition in the
Supreme court under the name of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan2 Seeking certain guidelines
and directions to prevent sexual harassment faced by women at their workplace. As a result,
the Supreme Court gave its judgement famously known as the Vishaka guidelines.
1. Duty. —A duty is casted upon the employer and other responsible persons at the
workplaces 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.
2. Definition of “Sexual Harassment”.—This is, perhaps, the most important part of the
guidelines as proved by the fact that it was incorporated verbatim in defining section of
the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal)
2
AIR 1997 SC 3011.
3
AIR 1997 SC 3011.
The employer while dealing with the complaints of sexual harassment should take steps to
prevent the victims and witnesses from being discriminated against or victimised. The
victims should also have the option to seek transfer either of oneself or the perpetrator.
5. Disciplinary Action. — If the alleged conduct amounts to misconduct defined under the
4
S. 2(n)
5
Incorporated in S. 19, The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013
6
Ibid. S. 3 (2)
7
Ibid. S. 19 (h)
relevant service rules, the employer shall initiate appropriate disciplinary action.8
6. Complaint Mechanism. —Guideline nos. 6 and 7 provide for the constitution of a
Complaints Committee. The Complaints Committee should be headed by a woman9 and
not less than half of its member should be women10. Further, to prevent the possibility of
any undue pressure or influence from senior levels, such Complaints Committee should
involve a third party, either NGO or other body who is familiar with the issue of sexual
harassment.
The Supreme Court went a step ahead and held that an attempt to molest will also amount to
Sexual Harassment. Outrageous behaviour of the employee is sufficient to constitute Sexual
Harassment and the fact actual assault or touch is irrelevant.11
In a leading case, the accused, A.K. Chopra, was charged with sexually harassing a woman
employee working as a clerk cum typist. The aggrieved had complained that the accused had
tried to physically molest her in the office and also tried to sit too close to her and touch her
inappropriately. Despite repeated protests, he continued repeating his unwelcome overtures.
The aggrieved complained to her employers about the behaviour of her superior. Following
the complaint, the alleged was suspended and disciplinary proceedings were initiated against
him wherein he was found guilty and subsequently removed from service.
Aggrieved by the above order A.K. Chopra , then, approached the High Court praying that
the impugned order be quashed. The High Court concluded that the accused ‘only made an
attempt to molest' the clerk without actually doing so and that’s why, he could not be
removed.
In appeal, criticising the judgment of the High Court, the Apex Court held that the High
Court erred while deciding in favour of the accused and that the Court should not interfere in
the findings of the disciplinary proceedings unless:
Supreme Court held that the conduct of the accused did not cease to be outrageous for the
want of actual assault or touch. It emphasised that “in cases of Sexual Harassment, the courts
should examine broader possibilities and must not be influenced by trivial discrepancies or
8
Ibid. S. 19 (i)
9
Ibid. S. 4 (2) (a)
10
Proviso to S. S. 4 (2)
11
Apparel Export Promotion Council v. A.K. Chopra, AIR 1999 SC 625.
narrow technicalities”12.
OF VIEW
In this era of globalization and acceptance of market economy by almost all nation states
(including India) the role of women in our economy has increased dramatically, constituting
at least half of our workforce.
The major issue that women have to face in their workplace is, as has been already
mentioned, is the sexual harassment by their male employers and co employees. This grave
violation of human rights has been up to a huge extent by the Vishaka guidelines formulated
by the Supreme Court. The most noteworthy aspect of these guidelines is that it provides for
establishment of a Complaints Committee at the workplace which will comprise of more than
50% of women and that it aims to make the employer responsible and answerable for any
violation of the guidelines. This has made the workplaces far safer and healthier for women
than they used to be.
Guidelines has made it mandatory for every workplace whether public or private to constitute
a complaints committee. In case of failure to do so, the workplace’s owner has to pay hefty
fine.
This committee is a redressal mechanism which can be easily approached by the woman who
faces any incident of sexual harassment. The Vishaka guidelines have a huge deterrence
effect upon the harasser by the virtue of the fact that it may cause a huge damage to him,
costing him a loss of reputation, economic resources, his job and in some cases even the very
license to practice that particular profession. Due to the efficiency of these guidelines in
curbing the harassment of women at workplace whether in private enterprise or public
enterprise, the workplace has actually become more safe, humane and healthy for the woman
to work, thus it enhances the working capacity of our population, directly benefitting our
economy.
Also, the earlier unwilling parents of the women are now willing to send their daughters to
work and earn, given to the safe working conditions they will be provided there on account of
such guidelines.
Thus, this ameliorates the financial condition of the women in the society which, in turn
reduces her dependence on any male member of her household and makes her independent in
12
Ibid. at para 28
real sense.
It’s a leading case of outraging the modesty of women at workplace. In presence of a gentry,
a topmost state police officer, Mr KPS Gill patted the posterior region of one senior IAS
officer known as Rupan Deol Bajaj. She raised objections to his indecent and inappropriate
behaviour instantly but Mr Gill nevertheless continued with his crude and indecent
behaviour. The court was of the opinion that the instance was a serious violation of modesty
of Mrs Bajaj, since she was a woman of ordinary sense and temper and the ignominy and
trauma suffered by Mrs Bajaj must have been so slight that she had to drag Mr Gill to the
court, which she, otherwise would not have complained about.
The High court of Punjab and Haryana held KPS Gill to be guilty under section 354
(outraging the modesty of a woman)14 and Section 504 (words, gestures or act intended to
insult a lady)15
In the year 2005 the Supreme Court also upheld High court’s decision. It ordered a monetary
compensation of ₹ 2, 00, 000 to be given to Mrs Rupan Deol Bajaj by Mr. K.P.S. Gill and
reduced his sentence to probation. Since Mrs Bajaj refused to take the money, the Supreme
Court ordered the money to be donated to women organisation. This leading case has a very
important place in the legal world and is regarded as a benchmark case of harassment at
workplace.
In this leading case of sexual harassment of a woman at workplace, one Rina Mukherjee was
a senior Reporter in the statesman in Kolkata. She had several years of experience in the field
of journalism, by virtue of working on several positions in various reputed news channels and
newspapers. After a few days of working in the statesman, her senior Ishan Joshi began
sexually harassing her. He would often touch her inappropriately, put his arms around her,
call her in his office and paw her. Since he was a very senior official, Mrs. Rina kept quiet for
a long time, which gave more confidence to Mr Ishan to harass her, his harassment activities
increased up to an obnoxious level, often publicly or in company meetings.
13
1995 SCC (6) 194
14
S. 354, Indian Penal Code, 1860.
15
S. 504, Indian Penal Code 1860.
16
Rina Mukherjee v. Statesman 2014 (4) CALLT 190 (HC); 2014 (143) FLR 51
Mrs Rina, unable to bear it, complained. But since there was no implementation of the
Vishaka guidelines in the company, she found it very hard to proceed with her complaint. She
was suddenly after the complaint asked to leave her job by the office authorities, since her job
was terminated by the statesman.
The Industrial tribunal found her dismissal to be “non- bona fide’ and without any valid
reason. The Calcutta High Court also upheld the tribunal’s decision and directed the
statesman to pay her salary from backdate and to also pay her a fine of ₹ 1, 00, 000 to Mrs
Rina within a period of 3 weeks.
There are several legal and technical flaws that occur in Vishaka guidelines, as have been
from time to time pointed out by various legal experts.
1.) The guidelines talk about / considers only those allegations of sexual harassments
which have occurred “within the campus only”. It ignores cases that may occur
outside the campus even though parties to the incident are from same office / place of
work.
2.) There has been no mention about the “fund provisions” necessary for the guidelines
to be followed properly , in totality.
3.) The committee that will be formed under this guidelines will only have
recommendatory power. The final decision will be given only by the office
authorities. Thus, the decision of such committees are devoid of any kind of binding
powers.
4.) Although there’s provision for a time bound decision by such committee, yet it is
seldom given.
5.) Guideline has the provision of filing complaint through a proper administrative
channel, but the term “proper administration channel” has nowhere been defined.
6.) The “government department” where the annual reports are to be given is very vague.
the modesty of woman’to the discretion of the police officer.17This position, however, has
changed with the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013 which inserted the new Section 354-A
thereby making Sexual Harassment an expressed offence which is punishable with rigorous
imprisonment for a term extending to3 years, or with fine, or with both.
In 1997, the landmark decision of the Apex court in Vishaka v State of Rajasthan,18laid the
foundation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and
Redressal) Act, 2013.The aforesaid Act received the President’s assent on 22nd April, 2013
and came in force on 9th December, 2013 after a long gap of 14 years of the Vishaka19
Judgement.
The Act signifies the nation’s commitment to various international accords and also to the
constitutional promise of Right to live with dignity enshrined in Article 21.20 A rough perusal
of the preamble to the Act at the outset clarifies that its purpose is not only to curb sexual
harassment at workplace but also the redressal of complaints thereof. The preamble also takes
note of the fact that this menace is violative of her Right to equality21 and Right to life22 i.e.,
to live with dignity. It creates an insecure and hostile working environment that discourages
the participation of women in work; ergo, adversely affects their economic empowerment and
the objective of inclusive growth.23Another front on which the Rights of working women are
violated is the internationally recognised human rights by various international conventions
like CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women) which was ratified by the Government of India on 25th June 1993. Article 11 of the
Convention require the States to take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in thefield of employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men
and women, the same rights and declares the Right to work as an inalienable right of all
human beings.
The Act provides, inter alia, for various provisions in order to establish a safe and sound
work environment for women. The Act makes stringent provisions to ensure this e.g. every
offence under this Act shall be a cognizable offence.24 The other noteworthy provisions are:
The Act says the following unwelcome acts and behavior can (directly or by implication)
17
Urban Women in Contemporary India: A reader, 110 (Rehana Ghadially, 1st ed., 2007)
18
AIR 1997 SC 3011
19
Ibid.
20
Art. 21, the Constitution of India
21
Art. 14, the Constitution of India
22
Art. 21, the Constitution of India
23
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=92690 visited on 12.01.2019
24
S. 27(3), The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013
If the employer fails to comply with his duties under Ss. 4 (1), 13, 14 and 22 and
contravenes or abets contravention of other provisions of this Act or any rules made there
under, he shall be punishable with fine which may extend to fifty thousand rupees. 29 Also, if
any employer, previously convicted of an offence under this Act, subsequently commits and
convicted of the same offence, he shall be liable to twice the punishment which might have
been imposed on the first conviction and cancellation, of his licence or withdrawal, or non-
renewal, or approval, or cancellation of the registration by the Government or local authority
required for carrying on his business or activity.30
There can be no logical denying of the fact that sexual harassment of women at their
workplace is an atrocious and grave violation of basic human right of dignity and any
reported incident should be treated very seriously by the authorities of that workplace. Before
1997, women didn’t have a lot of options to deal with the menace of sexual harassment and
they had to suffer for long to muster up courage to report the violation. After Vishaka
guidelines came into the picture, the situation of working women changed. They got the
much needed legal provision to protect themselves at their workplaces.
Although the guideline, which has later been given the form of an Act ( Sexual Harassment
25
Ibid., S. 2(n)
26
Ibid., S. 4 (1)
27
Proviso to S. 4 (2)
28
Ibid., S. 4 (2) (a) & (b)
29
Ibid., S. 26 (1)
30
Ibid., S. 26 (2)
VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Vandana, Sexual Violence Against Women: Penal Law And Human Rights Perspectives(1
Ed. 2008).
Journal Articles
Christopher & Chika, Sexual Harassment Comes of Age: A Comparative Analysis of the
United States and Japan, 50 THE SOCIOLOGICAL QUARTERLY201–234 (2009).
D.K., Progress of Sexual Harassment Law in India, China and Hong Kong: Prognosis for
Further Reform, 51 HARVARD INTERNATIONAL LAW JOURNAL ONLINE172–180
(2010).
Heather, Christopher & Amy, Sexual Harassment, Workplace Authority, and the Paradox of
Power, 20 AMERICAN SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW (2012).
Romana& Sidra, International Laws and Policies for Addressing Sexual Harassment in the
Workplace, 2 INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY &
MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES32–43 (2016).
Tzili, Law as a Tool for a Sexual Revolution: Israel's Prevention of Sexual Harassment Law,
7 MICHIGAN JOURNAL OF GENDER & LAW291–332.
Websites
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