Amidst the din in the House, the government on Tuesday introduced the much awaited and much debated Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Work Place Bill, 2010, in the Lok Sabha to ensure a safe working environment for every woman.
The bill intends to fix the responsibility on the employer and district authorities, while excluding the domestic workers from its purview. Minister for women and child development Krishna Tirath moved the bill in the House amid uproarious scenes created by the Opposition over its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into alleged 2G spectrum allocation scam. The proposed legislation also makes all such offences against women non-cognisable. The bill says that every employer shall provide a safe working environment at the workplace, which includes safety from the person coming into contact at the workplace. It provides that every employer will constitute a committee to be known as internal complaints committee. During the pendency of inquiry in such offences, the complaints committee may recommend to the employer to transfer the aggrieved woman or the respondent to any other workplace or grant leave to the aggrieved woman. The committee would provide its report to the employer or the District Officer and also to the parties concerned. The legislation derives its base from various Articles relating to freedom and equality embodied in the Constitution. Article 21 which relates to the right to life and personal liberty, includes the right to live with dignity, and in the case of women, it means that they must be treated with due respect, decency and dignity at workplace. The minister, while introducing the bill, also referred to the Supreme Court ruling in the Vishaka and Others vs state of Rajasthan case of 1997 that sexual harassment at workplace was a form of discrimination against women and recognised that it violated the Constitutional rights to equality and provided guidelines to address this issue pending the enactment of a suitable legislation.
Meanwhile, Parliament continued to remain paralysed for the 18th working day with no solution to the impasse on the Opposition demand for JPC.