A Ghaziabad based Area Manager of a multinational pharmaceutical company has lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against two of her senior colleagues. In her complaint she has stated that both would touch her inappropriately whenever they would find her alone. She had initially approached the ICC of her organization as well as the top management of the company, but no proportionate and stern action was taken against the two. Thus, she confided the series of incidents to her husband, post which the couple approached the Delhi Police. Delhi Police is presently investigating the matter and examining the CCTV footage of the workplace where the incidents had rolled out.

Section 14 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 prescribes punishment for filing false complaint of sexual harassment at workplace by women. Recently, the Delhi High Court has deliberated on this issue, when a woman was found to have filed a false complaint of sexual harassment against her employer. The woman had denied filing of any case by her and even denied her statement bearing her signatures before the Court. She was therefore asked to put her signature on a blank sheet to tally & compare the same with the signatures in dispute. It was found that she had deliberately signed the paper in a ‘shaky writing’ just to make it appear distorted. The Court called her actions to be subversive of the judicial process and stated that the Court cannot act blind to such blatant lies. The Court went on to call for stern action against the complainant and other witnesses who deliberately lied to the Court.

The Delhi High Court has recently ordered the reconstitution of the ICC of Air India probing the charges of sexual harassment on a senior official by an Air Hostess. The Complainant alleged that the Chairperson of the ICC looking into her matter was a close friend of the accused and thus she apprehended a biased and unfair proceeding. She approached the High Court which has ordered for the replacement of the present Chairperson. The High Court has further stated that when a member of the ICC is found to be in conflict to a case, he/she needs to be replaced. Earlier, she had written to the Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Suresh Prabhu, upon whose intervention an ICC was constituted. But, neither did the ICC conduct any proceeding for nearly six months nor did it give her sufficient time to represent her case. The Airline has agreed to appoint a new person after the High Court made it clear that it would otherwise stay the proceedings before the ICC.

An employee of the Indian Railways has been booked for sexually harassing a woman colleague. The following day, the victim lodged a complaint against the alleged harasser to the Ariyamangalam Police where she stated that on 8th July at around 9 pm, while she was walking on the Oil Mill road, she was assaulted both physically and verbally by the male colleague. The harasser had abused her with filthy language, kicked her, slapped her with his slippers and further threatened her. The local Police has begun an inquiry into the case but is yet to arrest the harasser.

An Assistant Professor of Mangalore University has been accused of sexually harassing female students. The complaint, which was filed in December last year was investigated by SPARSH (Sensitization, Prevention & Redress of Sexual Harassment) Committee, which found the accused guilty. However, no action was taken. Thereafter a student filed a complaint with the University alleging sexual harassment and inappropriate touching by the accused. After learning about the complaints, the Lecturer began threatening students with dire consequences, as alleged in a letter by Students to the University. The accused had gone on to challenge the validity of the SPARSH Committee, resulting in the constitution of a new Committee. The newly constituted committee is scheduled to file its report shortly.

A Pune Police Constable has been booked under Section 354 A (Sexual harassment and Punishment for Sexual Harassment) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 for molesting a female colleague inside the premises of a Police Station. The FIR stated that both were in the station duty officer’s room when he approached her. When he began to talk sleazily, she told him to stop and decided to leave the place, once touched inappropriately. Thereafter, he grabbed her hand and preventing her from exiting the room. Upon raising an alarm, other on-duty policemen rushed into the station duty officer’s room and intervened.