Chennai: The Madras high court has said, “Violence against women is perhaps most shameful human rights violation and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace”.
Justice S.M. Subramaniam made the above observations while dealing with a case of sexual harassment at workplace.
The judge said the concept of equality of status and the resolutions adopted by “We the people of India” in the preamble of the Constitution shall be achieved only when all citizen equally respect everybody without any discrimination on gender basis. Equal protection of laws is the constitutional mandate. Importantly, the fundamental duties enunciated under Article 51-A, Clause (e) states that “to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional to sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women”. It is the fundamental duty of every citizen of this great nation, to renounce the practices derogatory to the dignity of women, the judge added.
The judge said, “It is not enough to focus on the harm to women as sexual beings; the law must also focus on women’s systematic disadvantages…and facilitate women’s equal empowerment….as creative, committed workers. We need an account of hostile work environment harassment that highlights its dynamic relation to larger forms of general hierarchy at work”. Feminism arose as a result of unequal laws created by men through whom women were denied certain fundamental rights. Simone de Beauvoir, a French philosopher, has been the most important feminist thinker. She has shown as how from the earliest times men enslaved women due to their physical structure. Women, as it happened generally became weak due to repeated childbirth, so they were thought to be less important than the male members of the group, the judge added.
The judge said this inferior and unequal status of women was the main reason behind sexual violence behind them. While gender violence was as old as humanity, it was only in the past two decades that it has been publically recognized, systematically structured and legislated against to a significant degree. In 1990s such violence was finally admitted on international level with recognition of human rights issue. Internationally, the World Conference on Human Rights at Vienna, which was one of the main turning points in women’s right, declared that human rights of women and of the girl child were inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights. The Vienna Declaration specifically condemned gender based violence and all forms of sexual harassment and exploitation, the judge added.
The judge said sexual harassment at the work place was an extremely sensitive issue. For most it was taboo, due to the limitations of traditional gender hierarchies. However, keeping in mind the principles of our great nation, the government thought fit of enacting laws in this regard and accordingly, the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 was enacted.
The Act provides protection against the sexual harassment for woman at workplace, for complaints of sexual harassment and matters connected therewith and incidental thereto, the judge added.
Elaborating various provisions of Act, the judge said, “Thus, all the aspects in this regard are unambiguously provided under the Act itself. Such being the provisions enacted for the welfare and protection of women at workplace, it is the duty of the employer to ensure that such an environment is created for the purpose of creating the society in which women can work in peace and put their efforts for the development of our great nation and contribute their services”.
