Evolution of sexual harassment law

Sexual harassment is one of the biggest issue faced by the women in there all spheres
of life and most of the cases the fear of being harassed leads to a a situation that
women will be chained inside there homes.it is a growing social problem there needs
to be provisions to address and solve this.Sexual harassment can be defined as the
unwanted,inappropriate sexual attention it can be touching,lewd comments ,asking for
sexual favour etc.

In sexual harassment it is not with the consent and its an interest of just one person
leads to the right violation of another and in most of the cases the victim is blamed
and suffers the hate of society.Moreover the victim needs to have an understanding
that its not her fault and its a crime done by the offender.The harassment sometimes
become a part of women life for instance the lewd comments passed on her
dress,body and even in bus the inappropriate touch moreover in work place the sexual
favour asked by the higher authority the fear and the feel of getting discriminated.The
main reason for sexual harassment is patriarchy because the man those who are not
happy on women becoming part of the unconventional jobs or fields which was under
the control of men for centuries for an instance the women working as a driver and
drive late night taxis which is not something digestible by a man with male prejudices
who always want a women to be inside the four walls and they indirectly thought the
fear they can bring on this women by these sexual harassment will make them stop
engaged in these jobs.

Till 1997 the only law which available for women regarding sexual harassment is IPC
354 and IPC 509.section 354 can be used when there is an action which outrage the
modesty of women and 309 is also initiated when somehow women modesty is
effected and insulted.In 1997, supreme court issued Vishaka guidelines for the
protection of women against sexual harassment in workplace .The incident that leads
to the guidelines is the the gang rape of Bhanwari Devi, who was a social worker
engaged in the activities to prevent the evils of child marriage in Rajasthan.when she
was tried to stop the marriage of ramakant gujjar’s family,However she tried her level
best to stop the marriage but the marriage happened and due to the rage towards
bhanwari devi,ramakant gujjar and 5 other gang raped her.despite of numerous
troubles and pressures from the police department she was finally succeed in filing the
complaint but the trial acquitted the offenders later on non profit organization named
vishaka filed a public interest litigation and contended that while doing her duty she
was raped and her fundamental rights are violated as per the petition in Supreme court
under the violation of article 14, 19,21.The court gave guidelines for the protection
of women in work place.Those guidelines need to be followed in all cases related to
sexual harassment against women.Moreover, after the issue of vishaka guidelines
there was not much improvement in the enactment of law regarding sexual
harassment even there was efforts to tackle sexual offence in the work place but there
was not a fulfill approach to enact the entire guidelines.

Moreover after 17 year the next law was enacted against harassment the law is Sexual
Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention,Prohibition and Redressal act
2013).This act is the successor of vishaka guidelines and the act is beneficial than the
guidelines and which created an impact and relief especially to the working class
women. And there were initiatives taken both by the private and public companies to
enact the provision of the act.According to section 4 of the act which mandates the
provision for the constitution of an internal complaint committee for the proper
redressal of problems faced by the women in there place of employment.it is
mandatory for the employer to constitute a committee if there is 10 or more people
working in that establishment.There are other provisions like the details of the
members of the committee and its functioning need to be displayed at the workplace
and also the employer is responsible to provide all the facilities for the impartial
enquiry and also need to produce report annually.The committee need to consist of
two members who have knowledge of the cause of women and better understanding
about the legal provisions.Half of the members need to be women and some of the
members need to have knowledge and experience in social work.if the number of
person working in an establishment is less than ten people the appropriate government
need to assign local complaint committee in every district for the employees to report
sexual harassment issues they face in there work place.In local complaint
committee,there will be a district officer who will check the enactment of the act.This
district officer constitute this local committee for the complaint receiving from the
employees and every year there needs an annual report which need to be submitted to
the district officer also there is a provision for appointment of a nodal officer every
taluk,panchayat etc.

These committees are helpful for the women to complaint if they face any types of
harassment in there work place.it is a serious issue and if effect the overall career of
the women,they will be discriminate,fear loss of job.For an instance if a female
employee was pressurized for sexual adjustments for her promotion it may leads to
discrimination,mental trauma and even that fear will effect her entire life and career.In
most of the cases women suppress this because even they fear of the future and the
constraints she need to face in case of job loss and the difficulty for getting a new
job,lack of family support and even the mental trauma and blaming from the society
the women needs to encounter when she open ups about the harassment so this
committees are a welcoming step and a great initiative to have gender equality in
work place.

Is sexual harassment violation of fundamental right

In sexual crimes the fundamental right of the affected is violated.As per Indian
constitution every citizen in India has there fundamental rights irrespective of there
gender but the issues faced by the women leads to a curtailment in there rights For an
instance due to unsafe conditions prevail in the country women are not allowed to
travel freely in night times and it become an unwritten law that women need to be in
home before the reason behind this the conditions are not secured.so the basic right of
a women is curtailed and even many women are not allowed to work because many
has a believe that women will face harassment and adjustments and sexual favour is
part of particular jobs especially in film industry for example like casting couch,the
women who needs to bent down for these harassment for career opportunities.This
one way or other violates there fundamental rights enshrined under article 14 which
means right to equality all person are equal before law and there is no gender
discrimination . Article 15,16 and also article 19 is also violated ,article 19 which
dealt about freedom of speech and expression and also freedom to travel freely all
those are violated due to this fear of harassment.Moreover the society will isolate the
women who undergo sexual harassment which leads to a fear in them to report the
harassment they face which leads to both mental and physical stress and strain
moreover there fundamental right to life and liberty is effected.Article 21 guarantees a
fundamental right to live with dignity and liberty to express.and the isolation and
insult from the society is much harder impact on there life to dignity even after
undergoing the harassment this fear prevent the women to open up there issues.

Moreover as per the bhanwari devi judgement supreme court also upheld that UN
convention on the elimination of all types of discrimination against women
(CEDAW) is legally binding.other than it included responsibility of institution in
curtailing and addressing sexual harassment.The major aim is to prevent the
harassment,proper awareness in the workplace as well as creating knowledge about
the penal provision and there impact will help the effected to voice out the harassment
as well as the awareness about the harassment will create a fear in the future
offenders.The sexual harassment is broadly defined not the unwanted touch,even the
comments with sexual intention all type of encroachment towards women modesty
will be accounted.

Sexual abuses faced by the children even infants is a vital problem in the society
which leads to the enactment of protection of children from sexual offences act
2012,These abuses against the children will curtail there overall development and
even cause mental depression even these abuses are against kids who are about
months months and the small kids who undergo these harassments sometimes
remember the pain but wont be able to understand the severity of the offence.
The POCSO act is enacted to prevent all type of sexual crimes against children it
includes engaging children in unlawful sexual activity and trafficking or using
children for child prostitution and also involving children in pornography
etc.According to POCSO the child is a person below the age of 18 years.The act all
types for activities which is against modesty of the children,Based on the POCSO act
involving the children in pornography or compelling to act or see pornographic
content will be punished for 3 years or fine or both.Also,according to the act the
abetment of child abuse is also punishable which can extend half of the life
imprisonment.
For example if A abets B to commit a crime related with sexual abuse against children
in such cases A will be liable for his act of abetment and he will be punished as per
the provisions of POCSO act.

There is also provisions in the act,regarding the easy disposal of cases and also easy
complaint addressing so there will be special police units in all police stations which
help to file the case easily without any delay or stuck in the procedural red tape.Even
according to the act even if it is pleaded that the the sexual activities happened with
the permission of the child it is not valid because a person below the age of 18 years is
not legally permissible to give consent and such consents will be void

The POCSO act is gender neutral which means it include both female and male child
and there is no discrimination on the basis of gender and it is applicable to all
kids.Most of the cases the sexual abuses are committed by person those who are
related with the child who face the abuse that can be a hindering factor to against the
complaint filing.and the act made all the provisions that is beneficial and easy to
report offence as well as secrecy is maintained in those cases.The act also have
provisions for punishment of not only offenders but also towards the ones those who
hide the offences even after getting proper knowledge about the crime and instead of
reporting the abuse.Such person will be punished with imprisonment or fine or
both.There is no period of limitation apply in reporting such offences it can be
reported by the victim anytime after the commission of offence.The child’s identity
will not be published and the medias are bound to maintain the secrecy and the
hearing will be held in special juvenile courts and the violation of these provision will
attract punishment.

To conclude,sexual harassments and abuses are heinous crimes and these laws are
enacted to give proper punishment to the offenders and the ultimate goal is to prevent
the commission of such offences.However these acts has created impacts but still
more effort is needed because these millions of women and kids face sexual crimes all
over India in every nook and corner so the act need to be strengthen and the real goal
is to women walk freely without the fear of harassment and abuses.