After the Tehelka scandal that involved founder TarunTejpal being accused of sexually molesting a woman journalist in his magazine, two well-known women figures — a politician and a social activist — were accused of a misdemeanour.
BJP leader and lawyer MeenakshiLekhi and academic, writer and social activist MadhuKishwar have been accused, in complaints filed with the Goa Police — the Tejpal scandal took place in that state — of having revealed the name of the victim on social media.
Well, women’s sexual exploitation has existed for ages, across societies, countries and classes. Even at workplaces. In the ancient times, there were the likes of household workers, charwomen and plantation workers who were subjected to sexual torment at work; today, women continue to be exploited in factories, corporate offices, educational institutions and other workplaces. Governments take sexual exploitation at workplaces seriously and have legislated laws to make work environment safer for women.
The Supreme Court laid down the Vishaka Guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace in 1997. Recently, the Parliament enacted the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. AmitSaxena, a Delhi High Court lawyer and an executive member of the Delhi High Court Bar Association, says the law describes sexual harassment as unwelcome acts or behaviour (directly or by implication) which include physical contact and advances; a demand or request for sexual favours; making sexually coloured remarks; showing pornography; or any other unwelcome physical, verbal or nonverbal conduct of a sexual nature.
He adds: “Employers are bound by law to ensure they take appropriate steps against sexual harassment at workplace. The law lays down the creation of an internal complaints committee, the members of which must have legal knowledge and experience in social work. Where organisations have less than 10 employees, local complaints committees have to be constituted at district levels.”
It would seem women are safer now at the workplace, at least theoretically, and have full support from the state mechanism. Then why couldn’t Tejpal’s victim or the law intern sexually exploited by a former Supreme Court judge muster the courage at the first onset to go to the law-keepers.
This is what makes Lekhi’s and Kishwar’s alleged misdeeds a far greater concern. “In the Indian society, complaining about sexual harassment invites social stigma that adds salt to a victim’s injuries. The psychological pressure she suffers is unimaginable. She has the pressure to furnish proof, there’s the abject apprehension of inviting the ire of a powerful superior, often pressure from peers influenced by the guilty to ‘forgive’ the guilty, uncertainty of the future and the impact her complaint is likely to have on her career as employers don’t want to hire ‘trouble makers’; there’s also the fear of negative publicity and being seen as a ‘loose woman’,” says Anuradha Roy, a psychologist and counsellor.
This is perhaps why it took almost a year for the law intern to speak up against her alleged attacker, former Supreme Court judge, Justice A.K. Ganguly. Even then, she did not lodge a formal complaint but wrote about the incident in her post for the Journal of Indian Law and Society, a blog hosted by the Kolkata-based National University of Juridical Sciences. Following this, the Supreme Court constituted a three judge probe committee that found “prima facie evidence of unwelcome verbal/nonverbal conduct of sexual nature” against the ex-judge who has denied the charge.
In her interview to The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time, the intern turned-lawyer — the blog mentions her name but we don’t want to; it’s her brave action that is more significant — said it took her “time to come to terms with the fact (the sexual assault)”. “When I finally did, all that I wanted to do was to erase the memory from my conscious.”
One can understand why such incidents at work go either unreported or create a situation, when reported, is only detrimental to the victim. According to a report in The Times of India, a doctor working with the medical centre of a management institute was given her termination letter in 2012 following her three-year battle against an abusive chief administrative officer; a journalist with The Statesman has been out of job since September 2002 following her complaint against her then news coordinator who allegedly used to “paw her in front of colleagues”; a Sun TV news anchor quit mid-November as she “couldn’t continue in that hostile environment” after she turned down the news editor’s demand for a ‘treat’.
Typical psyche of a harasser in a position of power is an inflated ego which does not understand the meaning of “unwelcome attention”, leading him to believe that any woman in a subordinate position will be flattered by a superior’s attention and unwilling and unable to protest or complain if she wants to keep her job.
The law comes into play when the victim complains. In many cases, the victim cannot bring herself to register a complaint (for external and internal reasons including the fear of not being “believed” or the fear that she will be maligned and may lose her job and not get another job easily). The law cannot easily aid the victim in such a situation — the workplace environment (if friendly to a victim), positive support of family, close friends and society’s attitude in general can help her in coming to the right decision to protest against a wrong.
The law cannot also easily change male attitudes, particularly if implementation of the law is lax. The absent of fear of being arrested (which may act as deterrence and lead men to “behave” appropriately), there is a need for a societal change -- boys and girls, men and women (mothers, fathers and brothers) -- must change their attitude so that there is respect for girls and women at home, at schools, in colleges and in the workplace. Unless we have a society that respects women, men will not be ‘safe’ when judgement day comes!
It’s imperatively clear that there’s more to sexual harassment at workplaces and its control does not come full circle with merely a stricter law. Back in 2002, when KiranBedi was the Joint Commissioner of Police (Training) in Delhi, she had said at a Regional Conference on Sexual Harassment at Place of Work: “The problem boils down to the vast and increasing contradictions in our society. What is termed as obscenity by one section is seen as art by others. Women are also a part of this contradiction which will only increase with the passage of time and exposure to TV and the wider world.
I think sexual harassment in the workplace is pervasive in India, yet the culture of silence is huge. That's why I think that these two cases, both that of the law intern and the Tehelka journalist, are highly significant. If we fail in addressing these two issues, we will have failed the nation.
The line has got blurred, but women are not helpless. They just need to take up the problem more proactively.”
Indeed. For, Indian society still blames the woman for ‘inviting’ sexual assault on themselves. Post the public outcry over the brutal Delhi gangrape — the Nirbhaya’s case — suggestions as bizarre as inappropriate women’s dressing, stars, videshidhang, even their liking for chowmein and mobile phones were blamed for their sexual harassment. Sexual harassment at workplace is an extension of such a perception.
There are definite parallels between condemnation of victims of sexual harassment and the social views on victims of outright sexual assault. For, there is a cultural belief that sexual-assault victims bring it upon themselves. Men and womenare often reluctant to bring charges of such attacks for fear of not being believed or being blamed for the incident.
In a blog for rape victims, a victim working as a secretary for a garment-manufacturing company was called to the cabin of her boss one evening when most of the office was empty, and molested. In the garb of dictating a letter to her, the boss came up behind, touched his crotch to her arm and brushed her breast as he leaned over “to correct something she had typed”. An unfeeling comment to the ordeal was that the victim should have “fought” back, confronted the abuse, without considering that abuser, being a man, was much stronger than her and that was intimidating.
And, intimidation — physical, economic or social — is the real demon in cases where sexual harassment is given a silent burial by victims themselves. Ravi Padhy, a Delhibased social activist, says: “Women in the unorganised sector are economically vulnerable. What makes it worse is their limited or no knowledge of the law, lack of education and the fact that they are driven by social biases and the stereotype. Women in the lower economic strata normally step out of their houses to supplement their household’s financial needs. And their male colleagues and employers are aware how important their livelihood is to them. And this often leads to sexual exploitation.
“Women employed in shops, supermarkets, private schools, hospitals, and as sales girls are quite vulnerable. If the situation becomes intolerable, the poor victims merely leave their jobs instead of complaining to the authorities. Many of them even begin to feel this is how the world is and they have no choice. This emboldens the abusers and the vicious cycle of the haves exploiting the have-nots continues. It is a similar case among the educated, well-informed victims too. Only, it’s social stigma rather than ignorance that dictates inaction in the face of exploitation.”
The solution, therefore, does not lie in only formulating tougher laws but an environment that is more kind to the victims and ensuring there’s enough awareness around. “Apart from prominently including the provisions of 2013 Act in their employment charters, employers must follow the law in letter and spirit. Sexual harassment is misconduct, illegal under law, and organisation must treat it as one, irrespective of the seniority and importance of the abuser and the abused,” says Kolkata-based lawyer D. Koner.
www.grandmasters.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.rcls.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.itlegalsummit.com | 8 Years & Counting
www.bfls.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.maels.in | 8 Years & Counting
www.plcs.co.in | 8 Years & Counting
Copyright © 2020 Lex Witness - India's 1st Magazine on Legal & Corporate Affairs Rights of Admission Reserved
