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#MeToo: GoM may review law
Why is it in news?
- The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted to examine sexual harassment at the workplace may consider amending the law against sexual harassment at workplaces.
- The GoM headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to meet soon.
- The WCD ministry has shared with the Home ministry a meeting agenda which includes changes to:
- the Sexual Harassment of Women and Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013,
- The agenda mentions lacunae in the law as well as suggests ways to improve it.
- The GoM includes Minister for Road Transport and Shipping Nitin Gadkari, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi.
Vishaka guidelines
- The Vishaka Guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in 1997 lays the onus on the employer to prevent or deter acts of sexual harassment, apart from “providing resolution, settlement or prosecution of acts of sexual harassment.”
- The Act lays down the duties of an employer:
- ensuring a safe working place,
- displaying penal consequences of sexual harassment,
- creating awareness, as well as facilitating an internal probe.
- The employer is liable to pay a fine of ₹50,000 if he fails to comply with the inquiry report submitted by an internal complaints committee or doesn’t report the number of cases in the annual report.
- The Justice J. S. Verma panel had recommended an employment tribunal instead of an internal committee to probe complaints.
Source
The Hindu