BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Joginder Singh,
IPS(Retd.) Former Director CBI

An allegation of sexual harassment levelled against Orissa Assembly Speaker by a woman marshal not only led to the adjournment of the House, but also to his resignation in March, 2008. A Minister of Orissa also lost his job for allegedly engineering and encouraging the problems against the Speaker. Terming the allegation as baseless, the Speaker said that it was the fallout of actions initiated to discipline employees and is part of a “conspiracy” in which important persons were involved.

This is not the only case of sexual harassment involving a high profile celebrity in our country. In September, 2004 a former Kerala minister, Nadar was sentenced to one year in prison in a sexual assault case. This was the result of a complaint filed in 1999, by a divisional forest officer, in which she had alleged that the Minister attempted to molest her after summoning her to his room at a guesthouse on the pretext of an urgent meeting.

Another case had been filed against the same gentleman by a lady IAS officer, Nalini Netto, who had complained about the Minister's misbehaviour to the then Chief Minister on February 9, 2000 . Following the complaint, he had to resign from the Ministry.

The most celebrated case of sexual harassment and molestation pertains to KPS Gill, a former Punjab police chief. He was convicted of molesting a Punjab cadre lady IAS officer, at a party in Chandigarh . He pleaded drunkenness and said Ms. Bajaj was blowing things out of proportion. In January 1998, the court found him guilty as charged and sentenced him to three months imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs. 2 lakhs. Finally, his appeal was accepted by the Supreme Court, and he was released under the Probation of Offenders Act. But he had to pay fine in lieu of imprisonment.

An inquiry conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, in 2007 has found India Chief of UNICEF guilty of sexual harassment. It has requested the Ministry of External Affairs to withdraw his diplomatic immunity, though a UNICEF inquiry has absolved him of the charge. An Army Court of Inquiry has found a top Armed Forces official of the rank of Major General, guilty of sexual harassment of his subordinate woman officer of the rank of Captain. He would now be tried by a court martial.

Sexual harassment and rape are two sides of the same coin. Both have one victim- ‘woman'. Quite often, sexual harassment cases have hit the headlines, in our country. Such cases are not confined only to the Government sector. They are equally rampant in private sector.

The Supreme Court has defined sexual harassment, which “includes such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour, (whether directly or by implication) as: physical contact and advances; a demand or request for sexual favours; sexually coloured remarks; showing pornography; any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature.” The Court has emphasised, that the guidelines and norms being laid down by it has to be duly observed at all workplaces or other institutions until a legislation is enacted for this purpose and that these should be treated as law under Article 141 of the Constitution. It has also laid down that the employers should take appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment. These steps include:

(a) Express prohibition of sexual harassment at the workplace should be notified, published and circulated in appropriate ways.

(b) The rules/regulations of government and public bodies relating to conduct and discipline should include rules/regulations prohibiting sexual harassment and provide for appropriate penalties in such rules against the offender.

(c) Appropriate work conditions should be provided in respect of work, leisure, health and hygiene, to further ensure that there is no hostile environment towards women at workplaces and no woman employee, should have any reasonable grounds, to believe that she is disadvantaged in connection with her employment.

Whether or not such conduct constitutes an offence under law or a breach of the service rules, a complaint mechanism should be created in the organisation for redress of the complaint made by the victim. In other words, any action of a superior or a senior, against a female employee, which is against accepted moral sanction, and does not stand the test of decency and modesty, amounts to sexual harassment.

The truth is that women do not complain against superiors not only because they fear losing their jobs, but also because there is an element of doubt and disbelief against their complaint. In certain cases, women who have complained have had allegations made against them, that they invited it by being friendly or “free” in behaviour. Some have had their antecedents dug up leading to trivialisation of complaints. In many cases, such complaints are seen and dismissed from the male point of view, according to women activists.

In India , according to one survey, every 51 minutes, a woman is reported to be sexually harassed and every 26 minutes a woman is sexually molested. Several studies indicate that the magnitude of unreported cases is several times over the estimate. The report of a study conducted by the Gender Study Group of the University of Delhi showed that 91.7 percent of all inmates of women's hostels and 88.2 per cent of all women day scholars had faced sexual harassment, on the roads and within the campus.

According to a study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in the 23 countries, 15-30 per cent of working women had been subjected to sexual harassment, which varied from explicit demands for sexual intercourse to offensive remarks. One out of 12 women surveyed, had to quit her job. Some of them were dismissed. The issue of sexual harassment has been in the forefront of western women's movements for equality and efforts have been made to make educational institutions and workplaces safer.

A study has found that 45% of Czechoslovakian women had been sexually harassed in the workplace, yet the real numbers are probably higher. The Czech term for sexual harassment, “sexualni haraseni,” implies a tacit understanding that whoever complains about harassment is making an unnecessary fuss.

Sexual harassment is a widespread problem in post-Communist Europe , yet legal protection for victims is very slow. Till now no law has been passed, which considers sexual harassment as a separate legal offence in our country. The fact is that it is no less serious, but it is taken less seriously. The critical factor in sexual harassment is the unwelcomeness of the behaviour. It is the impact of behaviour on the recipient, rather than the intention of the perpetrator, which determines the standards for sexual harassment.

In other words, the complainant has to prove the “unwelcomeness” of the behaviour. Anything less than a transparent rejection of the sexual advances would not do. In actual practice, in the absence of witnesses or other concrete proof, it is the complainant's word against the sexual harassers.

There is hardly a country where the problem of sexual harassment does not exist. France is the only country that has passed a criminal law related to sexual harassment, although some other form of criminal law in other countries can be applied to extreme cases of sexual harassment. The statistics released by Delhi Police in January, 2008 has just reinforced Delhi 's image as a metro, where women are unsafe. The reported molestation cases rose to an all-time high of 835 in 2007 as against 713 in 2006. And this number may just be the tip of the iceberg as a large number of cases go unreported.

In most cases, victims avoid registering a complaint, fearing social stigma or harassment at the hands of the cops. The police say that it is not enough to have stringent laws as Delhi 's society is plagued by old feudal-patriarchal ideas as far as its treatment of women is concerned.

The conviction rate is low in molestation cases as according to the police, the victims change their statements in the court. So the accused walk free and get emboldened to repeat their act. Police also admit that many victims shy away from coming to the police station, as not many officers handle rape and molestation complaints sensitively.

In one of his poems, Sri Atal Bihari Vajpayee says, “In every panchayat Draupadi is robbed of her honour”. She is today not only dishonoured in panchayats but also in the city transport buses, in the city streets and even in her own homes. The women on their part should shed the mentality of tolerance of sexual harassment. They must express strong resistance the first time it occurs. If they allow such conduct to take place without expressing their strongest disapproval, the offender will assume that he has their consent. In case someone behaves with a woman, in a manner, that makes her feel uncomfortable, she should protest and complain loudly and at once. This will discourage potential mischief mongers to misbehave. It will also convey a message that such a behaviour is totally unacceptable.

It is high time that the Government passed a law about this inequality and indignity to women in our country.