Defining sexual harassment

While complaining about sexual harassment, the fear of unspoken social ostracism in office, a lengthy case of pressure from seniors to ?let it go, we?ll punish him? and ultimately a verdict which leaves the entire world wondering whether you were exaggerating it, will all be history now.

Published on: Jun 3, 2006, 03:22:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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While complaining about sexual harassment, the fear of unspoken social ostracism in office, a lengthy case of pressure from seniors to “let it go, we’ll punish him” and ultimately a verdict which leaves the entire world wondering whether you were exaggerating it, will all be history now. The government is almost ready with a stricter law to deal with sexual harassment.

The draft Protection Against Sexual Harassment Bill, 2006, readied by the ministry of women and child development and being considered by the law ministry, gives women the power to stand up against sexual harassment at any place—be it a corporate office, school, college, grocery store, an autorickshaw or a public transport system, the unorganised sector or legislative bodies, including Parliament. The bill is likely to be introduced in the monsoon session of the house. As per the draft bill, sexual harassment includes “such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour as physical contact and advances, sexually-coloured remarks, showing pornography and demand for sex, physically or verbally”. “It is clarified that it is the reasonable perception of the woman that would be relevant in determining a sexually-coloured or an unwelcome conduct,” says the bill.

The definition of sexual harassment also covers such conduct that can be humiliating and may constitute health or safety problems. It also covers discriminatory practices adopted by the employer like stalling recruitment or promotions of the complainant. No time bar has been put on lodging the complaint and any delay will not go against the victim, the bill says. A complaint of sexual harassment will have to be lodged with a complaint committee, to be headed by a woman. The committee will have to pronounce its decision within 90 days. If the complaint is found to be correct, the victim will have the right to seek monetary compensation. The compensation would be granted as per the salary of the defendant.

The bill also allows government monitoring of such cases. Each district in urban areas and each block in rural areas will have to appoint a local officer, preferably a woman, to ensure that a complaint committee has been set up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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