Bombay High Court POSH guidelines risk silencing victims of sexual harassment: IE

Essence: Recently, the Bombay High Court prohibited the disclosure of the identities of the victim accused and witnesses, of those involved in POSH (prevention of sexual harassment) to avoid reasonable expectation of retaliation at the workplace. As physical presence of person will cause further delays in an already slow judicial system. Apart from this, it also discourages victims from pursuing trials that require them to travel appear in person for every court hearing. This blanket ban, including the identity of those found guilty, is in against the need for transparency and accountability in the judicial process. Besides, this may result in habitual offenders hiding behind this veil of confidentiality and prevent the public from learning about the actions of powerful employers accused of protecting perpetrators. The reality of sexual harassment is that it goes unnoticed and unspoken about in a majority of cases. A court judgment like this could in effect lead to the silencing of many such future voices, without doing anything much to prevent future sexual harassment.

Why should you read this article?

• To understand the reason(s) behind the recent judgement of the Bombay High court on prohibition of the disclosure of the identities of the victim accused and witnesses, of those involved in POSH.
• To understand challenges associated with such blanket bans.

Source:

• Bombay High Court POSH guidelines risk silencing victims of sexual harassment