SESSION 2020-21

ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF LAW, ALIGARH

GENERAL CLASS TEST-II

WOMEN & LAW

TOPIC – Sexual Harassment at Workplace

SUBMITTED BY:
- HARIM FATMA
- 17BALLB056
- GI6753
- B.A.LL.B (IV)

SUBMITTED TO:
Mr. Zafar Ahmad Khan

1|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

CONTENTS

 INTRODUCTION

 GENESIS OF THE ACT

 SEXUAL HARASSMENT: THE LAW

 CASE LAWS

 PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO CURB SEXUAL

HARASSMENT

 CONCLUSION

2|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

INTRODUCTION
As enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution of India, “equality of status and
opportunity” must be secured for all its citizens; equality of every person under the law is
guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution.

Sexual harassment constitutes a gross violation of women's right to equality and dignity. It
has its roots in patriarchy and its attendant perception that men are superior to women and
that some forms of violence against women are acceptable. One of these is workplace sexual
harassment, which views various forms of such harassment, as harmless and trivial. Often, it
is excused as „natural‟ male behavior or „harmless flirtation‟ which women enjoy. Contrary to
these perceptions, it causes serious harm and is also a strong manifestation of sex
discrimination at the workplace. Not only is it an infringement of the fundamental rights of a
woman, under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution of India “to practice any profession or to
carry out any occupation, trade or business”; it erodes equality and puts the dignity and the
physical and psychological well-being of workers at risk. This leads to poor productivity and
a negative impact on lives and livelihoods. To further compound the matter, deep-rooted
socio-cultural behavioral patterns, which create a gender hierarchy, tend to place
responsibility on the victim, thereby increasing inequality in the workplace and in the society
at large.1

Sexual harassment is rooted in cultural practices and is exacerbated by power relations at the
workplace. Unless there is enough emphasis on sensitization at the workplace, legal changes
are hardly likely to be successful. Workplaces need to frame their own comprehensive
policies on how they will deal with sexual harassment. Instead of cobbling together
committees at the court‟s intervention, a system and a route of redress should already be in
place.2

1
https://www.iitk.ac.in/wc/data/Handbook.pdf
2
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/716/Sexual-Harassment-at-Workplace.html

3|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

GENESIS OF THE ACT

In 1992, a rural level change agent, Bhanwari Devi, was engaged by the state of Rajasthan as
a Sathin to work towards the prevention of the practice of child marriages. During the course
of her work, she prevented the marriage of a one-year old girl in the community. Her work
was met with resentment and attracted harassment from men of that community. Bhanwari
Devi reported this to the local authority but no action was taken. That omission came at great
cost – Bhanwari was subsequently gang raped by those very men.

Based on the facts of Bhanwari Devi‟s case, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by
Vishaka and other women groups against the State of Rajasthan and Union of India before
the Supreme Court of India. It proposed that sexual harassment be recognized as a violation
of women`s fundamental right to equality and that all workplaces/establishments/institutions
be made accountable and responsible to uphold these rights.

In a landmark judgment, Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan (1997), the Supreme Court of India
created legally binding guidelines basing it on the right to equality and dignity accorded
under the Indian Constitution as well as by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). It included:

 A definition of sexual harassment

 Shifting accountability from individuals to institutions
 Prioritizing prevention
 Provision of an innovative redress mechanism

The Supreme Court defined sexual harassment as any unwelcome, sexually determined
physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct. The definition also covered situations where a
woman could be disadvantaged in her workplace as a result of threats relating to employment
decisions that could negatively affect her working life.

It placed responsibility on employers to ensure that women did not face a hostile
environment, and prohibited intimidation or victimization of those cooperating with an
inquiry, including the affected complainant as well as witnesses.3

3
https://www.iitk.ac.in/wc/data/Handbook%20on%20Sexual%20Harassment%20of%20Women%20at%20Wor
kplace.pdf

4|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

SEXUAL HARASSMENT: THE LAW

According to the law in India, sexual harassment violates the women‟s fundamental right of
gender equality and life with dignity under article 14 and article 21 respectively. Although
there are no specific laws for curbing sexual harassment at the workplace in India but certain
provisions are there in other legislation like Indian Penal Code, which provides protection
against women‟s sexual harassments such as in IPC:

1) Section 294 deals with obscene acts and songs at public place.

2) Section 354 deals with assault or criminal force against women.

3) Section 376 deals with rape.

4) Section 510 deals with uttering words or making gestures which outrages a women‟s
modesty.

Sexual harassment can be distinguished on two basis, one of them is quid pro quo in which a
woman gets sexually harassed in exchange of work benefits and sexual favors this also lead
to some retaliatory actions such as demotion and making her work in difficult conditions.
Another is „hostile working environment‟ which imposes a duty on employer to provide the
women worker with positive working environment and prohibits sexist graffiti, sexual
remarks showing pornography and brushing against women employees.4

4
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/article/716/Sexual-Harassment-at-Workplace.html

5|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

CASE LAWS
There are various cases which had come before the courts in India and the judgment in most
of the cases has motivated women to register more complaints as compared to earlier:
1) APPAREL EXPORT PROMOTION COUNCIL V. A.K CHOPRA5

The Supreme Court in this case declared that sexual harassment is gender discrimination
against women and also said that any act or attempt of molestation by a superior will
constitute sexual harassment.

2) MRS. RUPAN DEOL BAJAJ V. KANWAR PAL SINGH GILL6-

This case has changed the meaning of the terms, modesty and privacy in such a way that, any
kind of harassment or inconvenience done to a women‟s private or public life will be
considered as an offence.

3) VISHAKA & OTHERS VS. STATE OF RAJASTHAN & OTHERS7-

In this case Supreme Court laid down the following guidelines which recognized it not only
as a private injury to an individual woman but also as the violation of her fundamental rights.
These guidelines are significant because for the first time sexual harassment is identified as a
separate category of legally prohibited behavior. These are subjected to all workplaces until
any other legislation is passed by parliament in this regard.

The guidelines are as follows:

(a) it is the duty of every employer to deliver a sense of security to every women employee.

(b)Government should make strict laws and regulations to prohibit sexual harassment.

(c)Any act of such nature should result in disciplinary actions and criminal proceedings
should also be brought against the wrong doer.

(d) The organization should have a well set up complaint mechanism for the redressal of the
complaints made by the victim and should be subjected to a reasonable time.

5
20 January, 1999
6
1995 SCC (6) 194
7
AIR 1997 SC 3011

6|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

(e) This complaint mechanism should be in the form of complaint committee which needs to
be headed by a women member and at least 50% of the committee members should be
women so that victims do not feel ashamed while communicating their problems.

(f)Issues relating to sexual harassment should not be a taboo in the workers meeting and
should be discussed positively.

(g)The employer or the person in charge is duty biased to take the necessary and reasonable
steps to provide support to the victim of sexual harassment takes place due to the act or
omission of the third party.

4) MEDHA KOTWAL LELE & Ors. V. UNION OF INDIA & ORS8

This case helped the Vishakha‟s case to implement the guidelines successfully by issuing
notices to all states and the union territories to impart the necessary steps.

8
(1997) 6 SCC 241

7|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

PREVENTIVE MEASURES TO CURB SEXUAL

HARASSMENT
Change in attitude of people is a basic requirement for implementing any law in the society
for women. The prevention of sexual harassment should be done at all level of employees and
it should be checked that the women employees get a positive environment. We recommend
the following steps that need to be taken for preventing sexual harassment at workplace.

1. There should be well set up complaint channel which is in direct communication with the
women employee. The women should not feel obscure in complaining about the problems
she is facing during employment at the workplace. The complaint committee should take all
such kind of complaint very seriously and appropriate action must be taken within reasonable
time.
2. Women workers‟ should not fear in talking about any harassment related to sex and it is
their duty to immediately bring in notice to the complaint committee about any such act.

3. It is the duty of the complaint committee to keep every complaint confidential.

4. Every organization should conduct sexual harassment awareness training for both the male
and female employees. This mutual learning will help in creating an atmosphere of hostility
and employees will feel comfortable. This training should also include the impacts of sexual
harassment on women.

5. A commitment is required from all the levels of the organization for the positive
implementation of the policies and procedures made against sexual harassment.

6. Every employee should understand that it is his legal duty to provide every women
employee a sense of security in workplace.

7. He should understand that any kind of harassment on his women employee will result in
detrimental effects on her health, confidence and her potential at work which also results in
her leaving the job.

8. Women should be motivated against sexual harassment and they should be asked to
complaint about it if they think that it is harming them in any manner and they should make

8|Page
 SESSION 2020-21

them realize that their complaints will not be subjected to ridicule or any kind of threat.
9. The employer should always be under a fear of any kind of monetary or reputational harm
which can occur if such a kind of activity happens in his company. We also think that there is
a need of formulating a separate anti-sexual harassment policy dealing particularly with this
issue.

CONCLUSION

Sexual harassment at workplace is highly prevalent in India and there is a need to provide a
positive environment to the women workers. Government should make separate laws dealing
with this issue. It should also realize that women worker also constitute a part of working
population in India and it‟s the duty of the government to provide them security at work. New
strategies should be made by the employers and managers to protect the organization from
this evil. Government and employers should ensure that women should be treated equally and
gender discrimination should not take place at the workplace. Effective implementation of the
policies can reduce the manifestation and mutilation of the sexual harassment to the
minimum. One organization can alter its approach to handle sexual harassment by viewing
other organizations tactic. This will reduce or eliminate glitches caused by this harmful
transgression. Government should understand that separate laws may not bring about equality
in gender relations but a law dealing with sexual harassment would provide women immense
support in their struggle. At last we want to say that women should not accept anything as it
is because now it‟s the time to speak out against all the injustice done to them

9|Page