Gaps in PoSH enforcement, must secure women’s work space: SC

Flags report (in The Indian Express); asks Govt, employers to ensure compliance

A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli was deciding an appeal filed by Aureliano Fernandes, a former Head of the Department of Political Science at the Goa University, against the Bombay High Court order upholding his dismissal from service on sexual harassment charges. File

Stating that “it is disquieting to note that there are serious lapses in the enforcement” of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, popularly known as PoSH Act, almost a decade into its enactment, the Supreme Court Friday issued a slew of directions to ensure its effective implementation.

A bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli was deciding an appeal filed by Aureliano Fernandes, a former Head of the Department of Political Science at the Goa University, against the Bombay High Court order upholding his dismissal from service on sexual harassment charges.

Allowing the appeal by Fernandes and sending the matter back to the Complaints Committee, the court flagged the report in a “national daily newspaper” that 16 of the 30 national sports federations don’t have an Internal Complaints Committee as stipulated under PoSH.

Incidentally, an investigation by The Indian Express on May 4 had revealed that half of the national sports federations don’t have sexual harassment panels as per law.

The Indian Express had found that five federations, including wrestling, don’t have an ICC; four don’t have the stipulated number of members; another six lacked the mandatory external member and one federation had two panels but none with an independent member.

For more details kindly click the below link:
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/gaps-in-posh-enforcement-must-secure-womens-work-space-sc-8606429/

Written by Ananthakrishnan G

Courtesy: The Indian Express
May 13, 2023

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