Sexual Harassment Law in India

Currently, there are no legislative enactments or statutory policies against sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace. Sexual harassment includes any behavior determined to be sexually unwelcome, including comments of a sexual nature, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. In the absence of enacted law providing for the effective implementation of gender equality and the guarantee against sexual harassment, the Supreme Court of India (in the case of Vishaka & othr. v. State of Rajasthan) established certain guidelines and norms for due observance in all workplaces, whether in the public or private sector, and these Guidelines are treated as the law declared by the Supreme Court under Article 141 of the Constitution of India (“Guidelines”) and are enforceable by law until the Parliament of India enacts the appropriate legislation.

Some of the important standards prescribed in the Guidelines are:

Preventive steps and awareness:

All employers or persons in charge of the workplace, whether in the public or private sector, must take appropriate measures to prevent sexual harassment in the organization and take the following measures:

There must be an express prohibition of sexual harassment in the workplace and this prohibition must be notified, published and disseminated in an appropriate manner so that the Company is aware of the rights of female workers. For example, the company may incorporate the policy related to sexual harassment in its Employee Handbook/Handbook and make it available to each of its employees upon joining company services. For employees who are already working with the company, management may distribute the revised and amended Employee Handbook (containing the anti-sexual harassment policy) or, alternatively, make it available online on the intranet. It is advisable to seek recognition of the Manual by employees. If management has concerns regarding posting the policy prominently on Company bulletin boards, inclusion of the policy in the Employee Handbook and distribution of this Handbook to each employee should be made.

Adequate working conditions are provided with respect to work, leisure, health and hygiene to ensure that there is no hostile environment towards women in workplaces and that no female employee has reasonable grounds to believe that she is disadvantaged in relation to with your job.

The Company must initiate appropriate disciplinary action in the event of misconduct.

Complaints Committee:

It would be necessary to create an adequate complaint mechanism to remedy the complaint made by the employee in question. The complaints mechanism would need to be adequate to provide, where necessary, a Complaints Committee, special adviser or other support service.

The Complaints Committee would have to be headed by a woman and no less than half of its members would have to be women. Furthermore, to avoid the possibility of undue pressure or influence from higher levels, such a Grievance Committee would have to involve a third party, be it an NGO or other body that is familiar with the problem of sexual harassment.

The Complaints Committee must make an annual report to the corresponding Government department of the complaints and the measures taken by them.

Employee Initiative:

Employees must be permitted to raise issues related to sexual harassment at employee meetings and other appropriate forums and must be affirmatively discussed at employer-employee meetings.

In light of the aforementioned Guidelines, the Company should observe the aforementioned standards and circulate the guidelines against sexual harassment, it may be as part of its Employee Handbook and ensure compliance with the guidelines set forth in the Vishaka et al. . v. State of Rajasthan by the Supreme Court of India.

Seema Jhingan (the author) is a partner at LexCounsel, Law Offices, a firm based in Delhi.