Government Acts /Efforts and Loopholes

Sexual harassment is prevalent in country as well as in many organizations, most of the women
have become the victim of sexual harassment. These women faces lot of issues in the
organization as they are not aware of the laws and other regulations implemented by the
government. The government of Pakistan has taken the account of sexual harassment and
imposes strict regulations against it. It has been objectified that most of the victims are not aware
of the laws however, government of Pakistan have cam forward in this regard and have
mentioned Sexual harassment laws clearly in the constitution as well as in Penal code.

The government of Pakistan has implemented the Procedure for Holding Inquiry, this procedure
allows organization to form an inquiry committee. The committee is liable to record the
complaint within the three days after the complaint is communicated. The committee send a
formal written receipt which is given to the accused the charges along with the statement of
allegation levels against him. It allows accuser to submit their defense within the seven days
from the day, the allegation are communicated to him. In case of failure to submit the written
defense without any reasonable cause, the Committee shall proceed further (Ali, 2019). The
committee then proceed further and may take oral and written evidence to support the charge or
to verify the defense of the accused. The Committee is also involved in cross-examination of the
witnesses against each other and inquire the matter from other people.

The provision of the Act, 2010 fall under both accused and victim therefore, the rules are applied
on both of them, and Inquiry Committee have the power to regulate the procedure and conduct a
brief inquiry and fixed time and place for the inquiry.

The government of Pakistan has implemented Sexual Harassment Act 2010, the act requires the
organization to take immediate actions against the culprits. According to the act, the officer in
the organization, if necessary, needs to provide an assistance and advice to each party. Both the
parties, the accused and victim has the right to come up with their own representative partner, a
friend, or a colleague. The act justifies that reverse action shall not be taken against the witnesses
or the victim (Aman, 2016). The sexual harassment act 2010 follows the Companies Ordinance
1984 and it encourage inquiry committee to ensure that employer or accused shall no create any
kind of pressure of hostile environment for the victim and she kept on pursuing her complaint
without any pressure. The Sub-Section 1 of Section 3 allows organizations to engage in the
formation of Inquiry Committee to foresee all the matters and take observational notes.

The Sexual Harassment Act 2010 imposes serious penalties to the accused which result in high
imposition of fine along with the reduction to lower post. He was forced to take a retirement and
was dismissed from the service with an immediate effect (Jamil, 2020). The competent inquiry
decided about the punishment of the accused and then take the decision, they complainant can
also file the complaint against the organization for their negligence, the serious actions are taken
against the organization as well to ensure the safety of all the female workers in the organization.

It has been observed that under Section 509 of Pakistan Penal Code, insulting the women or
sexually harassing the women in public or in privates is a serious crime. The perpetrator of this
heinous crime are awarded with 3 years’ imprisonment or fine of Rs. 5 lakh or sometimes both.
However, in Pakistan, this crime is sometime bailable and most of the times, parties settle the
case outside the court even when the matter is in the court.

The constitution of Pakistan is strong against the sexual harassment however, there are loopholes
in it that refrain the people from filing any report or case. There is a problem with the
implementation because law do not hold no value. There is no proper execution of the law and
most of the governing bodies are not formally aware of this law, they do not know how to act in
the situation like this and try to settle the matter with remuneration.

Section 11 of the Act requires an employer to circulate the code of conduct on sexual harassment
in both English and Urdu. However, the government has taken no initiative or provision to
ensure that organizations have established the code of conduct in the workplace. Similarly, the
Sexual Harassment Act 2010, mandates the establishment of the inquiry committee in the
organization but there is no provision to ensure its existence (Khan, 2016). It is important to
implement the law with utmost sincerity to achieve the objective behind it and to provide justice
to the women. The unavailability of these codes and regulation forces the women from raising
their voices in the male dominating organizations.

The major loophole in the implementation of the law is the existence of discrimination, it is
another issue that is prevailing in the society. The organizations do not give priority to the
complaints of the elderly or older women, or they don’t allow younger employees to file the
complaint. The discrimination is the underlying problem, and it effects the organizational
structure as most of the women faces gender discrimination and don’t feel safe however, the law
of Pakistan promotes equality (Mahmood, 2011). The country is lacking behind in the education
and another main loophole is in the education system of the country, the women are not educate
about their rights. Most of the women are not able to exercise their rights due to the lack of
knowledge and from the fear of dealing with the court matters. Women be afraid of speaking in
the court and this refrain them to raise the issue of sexual harassment in the court.

References
Ali, A. &. (2019). Sexual Harassment At Work Place: A Study Of Women Political Workers In
Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Applied Social Sciences, 1-20.

Aman, T. A. (2016). Perception of sexual harassment at workplace, knowledge of working

Jamil, S. (2020). Suffering in silence: The resilience of Pakistan’s female journalists to combat
sexual harassment, threats and discrimination. Journalism Practice, 150-170.

Khan, M. &. (2016). The protection against harassment of women at the workplace act 2010: A
legislative review. LUMS LJ.

Mahmood, Q. K. (2011). Perception of sexual harassment at workplace, knowledge and attitude