The Hindu Business Line : Law against sexual harassment of women sought

The law mooted will prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sex, race and caste in keeping with the constitutional right to equality and will be binding on all employers, both in the public and private sector.

Organised to commemorate International Women's Day on Saturday, the workshop, organised by the International Labour Organisation and the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, Noida, underscored the need to give more teeth to several existing laws such as Equal Remuneration Act, the Minimum Wages Act, Maternity Benefits Act, Factories Act and amendment to Section 354 of the IPC for upholding the dignity of women in society.

The Director of ILO, Mr Herman van der Laan, made a plea to society to recognise the importance of remedial and preventive action to end gender discrimination among women workers, who made up 22 per cent of the labour force in the country.

Mr Lan, while reiterating his organisation's commitment to providing decent working conditions, revealed that the ILO had commissioned country studies in the Asia-Pacific region on the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace in a bid to increase awareness among employers and employees of the need to address the problem sufficiently.

Presenting the National Perspective on Sexual Harassment, Mr Uday Kumar Varma, Director of VVGNLI, said despite India ratifying the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the existing laws in the country were inadequate to address the issue.

They said sexual harassment had neither been defined in the Indian Penal Code nor was there any legislation to prevent such harassment at workplace.

Presenting the India Study Report on Sexual Harassment at the Workplace, Ms Indira Jaisingh of Lawyer's Collective and advocate Ms Anita Shenoy, pointed out that the problem could not be redressed without legislation.

This was the only way to provide a remedy to the aggrieved to have the complaint investigated, have the abuser dealt with in accordance with the law and to seek compensation for the wrong done to the victim.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
UNEP ties up with banks to boost solar home systems

Citric acid imports brought under dumping duty

Jaswant's just a click away

Asbestos cement producers resent `vilified campaigns'

Kerala: Bill to prevent defacement of places

Sand turns a scarce commodity

Germany keen to boost trade ties

Discussion on bio-larvicide put off

It's a good innings for hotels too

High land prices a hurdle for Mangalore SEZ plan

Goshree project: March to HLL premises planned