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On 6th September, 2018, the Supreme Court of India has passed a landmark judgment on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (“IPC”). The provision criminalized consensual sex between homosexual adults grossly violating their constitutional right to life. The Court held that this Section is unconstitutional to the extent that it criminalizes consensual sex. Section ... Read More For those of us who handle inquiries into complaints of sexual harassment at workplace, it is very common to hear a party say that they desire to file a defamation suit before a Court. One also often reads about defamation cases being filed before, during and / or after a complaint of sexual harassment. Recently, ... Read More On 29th November, 2017, the Economic Times had reported that “Companies will soon have to disclose whether they have constituted an internal complaints committee (ICC) on sexual harassment as the government is planning to amend its rules to make the move mandatory, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi said today. The measure will help the government monitor ... Read More Ms. Vrishali Pispati is the Chief Executive Officer of Mumbai Mobile Creches (MMC). MMC is a non-profit organization working with the children of migrant construction workers in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane for the last 45 years. MMC offers comprehensive day care facilities for the children of the migrants at the construction sites and empowers ... Read More Ms. Shubhada More is a Science Graduate and a sports person and passed out from Y. C. Warana Mahavidyalaya. Thereafter she stood first in MPSC (Maharashtra Public Service Commission) exam. She has been working in the Police Department since 2009 and in the Crime Branch since 2012 in DCP (Enforcement). She has also been a ... Read More Ms. Swaroop Sampat, in her short stint in the TV and film industry has worked in very well-known TV serials such as “Yeh jo hai zindagi” and movies such as “Ki and Ka”. She was also crowned Miss India in the year 1979, and this epitome of beauty with brains has also done her Ph.D. ... Read More On 24th June, 2016, the High Court of Guahati decided the case of Tezpur University and Ors. vs. C.S.H.N. Murthy, which was a clear case of quid pro quo sexual harassment. The facts of the case are that in 2013, a student (“Complainant”) of Mass Communication and Journalism (“MCJ”) immediately on the next day after ... Read More In the case of Pradip Mandal vs. Union of India and Ors., the High Court of Calcutta, in its decision dated 9th June, 2016, held that Section 13 (4) of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“Act”) makes the recommendation of the ICC (inquiry report) binding on the ... Read More This weekend we got a chance to interact with Ms. Sharmila Kher and seek her views (generally as someone who has been working for a decade for the rights of women and children and as an external member of the internal complaints committee of several organizations) on several facets of the law against sexual harassment ... Read More In the last couple of days, we saw several reports highlighting two common concerns – Inaction on complaints of sexual harassment and retaliation towards the complainant. It is important to first lay down a gist of these four articles. Inaction by school on a complaint by a school girl: In an article dated 22nd November, ... Read More Sexual Harassment is the “behavioural execution of a defective, discriminating, imposing mentality to cause discomfort, shame and insult.” Sexual harassment of a woman in workplace is of serious concern to humanity on the whole. It cannot be construed to be in a narrow sense, as it may include sexual advances and other verbal or physical ... Read More The Ministry of Women and Child Development, with respect to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“the Act”), which turned two on 9th December, issued, on the same day, a ‘Handbook’ on the Act (“Handbook”) which, inter alia, states the following: Every woman has right to safe workplace: The Act recognizes the right ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), published the Office Memorandum F. No. 11013/2/2014-Estt (A-III), dated 16th July, 2015 stating that a guide on “Steps for Conduct of Inquiry in complaints of Sexual Harassment” (“Step Guide”) has been formulated laying down ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), published the Office Memorandum F. No. 11013/2/2014-EsttA-III, dated 5th May, 2015 containing the minutes of the meeting of Chairpersons held on 16th April, 2015 to discuss the progress of implementation of the guidelines on ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), by way of the corrigendum F. No. 11013/2/2014-Estt.A-Ill, dated 30th July, 2015 (“Corrigendum”) stated that it had prepared and circulated a step guide for conduct of the inquiry into complaints of sexual harassment vide Office ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), published the Office Memorandum F. No. 11012/0S/2016-Estt.A-III, dated 2nd June, 2016 regarding filing of appeals under Section 18 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. This Office ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), published the Office Memorandum F. No. 11013/2/2014-Estt.A-III, dated 9th September, 2016 regarding the seniority of the Chairperson of Internal Complaints Committee (“ICC”) of an organization under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), published the Office Memorandum No. 13026/2/2016-Estt. (L), dated 14th July, 2016 regarding grant of leave to the aggrieved woman during pendency of inquiry up to a period of three months in addition to the ... Read More The Government of India through the Ministry of Women and Child Development, issued a Department Circular No. 19-8 2014-WW, dated 27th October, 2014 (“Department Circular”) regarding implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. This Department Circular clarifies that ‘the Act casts an obligation upon all the organizations ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), wrote to the Secretaries of all Ministries / Departments vide D. O. No. 11013/2/2014-Estt. (A-III), on 20th March, 2015 stating that it had been decided to convene a meeting with the Chairpersons of the ... Read More The Government of India, through the Department of Personnel & Training of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (“DoPT”), published the Office Memorandum No. 11013/2/2014-Estt (A-III), dated 2nd February, 2015 in relation to the reporting requirements under the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013. ... Read More In the case of Jishu Sengupta & Others vs. The State of West Bengal & Anr., decided by the High Court of Calcutta on 4th November, 2016, the Court held that statements with sexual connotations and sexual innuendos are “sexually coloured remarks” and fall within the definition of sexual harassment under Section 354A of the ... Read More The Times of India, in its Article titled ‘Do Anti-Harassment Cell exist?’ recently reported that an incident involving the rape of an engineering college student by her college mates and another one where a student was subjected to sexual assault, have raised grave safety concerns among the student fraternity. It reported that though colleges have anti ... Read More Recently, the Bombay High Court, in the case of Vidya Akhave vs. Union of India, Department of Women & Children and Ors., decided on 4th October, 2016, made an observation that: Very often women share common concerns which men do not necessarily share or the concern expressed by women have not been necessarily understood by men ... Read More The case of Linda Eastwood vs. Union of India and Ors., decided by the High Court of Delhi on 23rd December, 2015, is an important one as it discusses several issues in relation to constitution of an internal complaints committee, conduct of an inquiry and preparation of the inquiry report pursuant to the Act of ... Read More In the case of Puspanjali Padhy vs. Central Public Information Officer, Indian Overseas Bank, before the Central Information Commission (“CIC”), New Delhi on 30th March, 2016, the issue of confidentiality under Section 16 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“the Act”) versus right to information (“RTI”) under ... Read More The High Court of Delhi recently, on 29th July, 2016, discussed transfer (during pendency of a complaint of sexual harassment) by an internal complaints committee (“ICC”), in accordance with Section 12 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“the Act”) in the case of Rupesh Hari vs. Union ... Read More The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“the Act”) was notified on 9th December, 2013. However, even after more than a year of coming into force, it appears from surveys and comments from the Ministry of Women and Child Development in various newspaper reports, that many organizations have still ... Read More The Times of India, on 18th August, 2015 reported that the administration of the district of Gurgaon has written to the state women and child development department requesting them to set up a website which would enable employers to submit an annual report with respect to cases of sexual harassment at workplace, in accordance with ... Read More 
