Vishaka and others V. State of Rajasthan and others.

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FOREWORDThe Supreme Court of India in their judgement in August, 1997, in thecase of Vishaka and others Vs. State of Rajasthan and others, recognizing theInternational Conventions and Norms, interpreted gender equality of women, inrelation to work and held that sexual harassment of women at the workplace,which is against their dignity, is violative of Article 14, 15 (1) and 21 of theConstitution of India. It is also the violation of the fundamental rights underArticle 19 (1) (g) ‘to practice any profession or to carry out any occupation, tradeor business.’2. The National Commission for women (NCW) , which is a statutory andautonomous body constituted by the Government of India ‘to secure justicefor women, safeguard their rights and promote women’s empowerment’ ,has taken up sexual harassment of women at work place as one of the focalissues in the realm of promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment. Accordingly, in the year 1996 the Commission took up ‘sexual harassment ofwomen at the work place’ as one of its focal issues. This was pursued with thevarious Central Ministries/Departments. In an effort to promote the well being ofall women employees at the work place, the NCW in 1998, formulated a Codeof Conduct for work Place putting down the Supreme Court Guidelines, in simplelanguage and in accordance with the directives given by the Supreme Court andcirculated it widely amongst all the Central Ministries and GovernmentDepartments. The Commission also circulated the Code to all State Commissionsfor women, NGOs and apex bodies of the Corporate Sector (CII, FICCI,ASSOCHAM etc.,) and to the Media.3. The Supreme Court has also ordered that as a part of the complaintmechanism, a Complaint Committee with a third party representation therein,should be constituted in each organization viz Government Departments andNon-governmental Organizations for investigating charges of sexual harassmentto deal effectively with the complaints of sexual harassment at workplaces. SuchCommittees should have not less than half of the members as women and awomen to head it. The complaint Committee must make an Annual Report tothe Government department concerned, of the complaints and Action Taken by(i)
them. The employers and person in charge will also report on the compliancewith the aforesaid guidelines including on the reports of the ComplaintsCommittees to the Government Department. These guidelines were publishedby NCW in August, 2001.4. In order to asses the extent to which guidelines and norms laid by theApex Court have been implemented as well as to share the experience/difficulties faced by various organizations in dealing with complaints of sexualharassment, the Commission has been holding meetings with variousorganiztions/Government Departments since November, 2000. The meetingsprovided an interactive forum for exchange of experience with variousorganisations. More than 33 meetings which have been attended by more than800 organizations, were held during the last 3 years.5. The Supreme Court subsequently issued a clarification on 26.4.2004, ontheir earlier guidelines of August 1997 in relation to conduct rules applicable toCentral Civil Services. The Department of personnel and Training have alsoamended the Central Civil Cervices (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules1965 CCS (CCA) as suggested by Supreme Court. The clarification on VishakaJudgment on Sexual Harassment at Workplace and CCS(CCA) Rules asamended by Department of Personnel and Training has been incorporated in thisbooklet.6. This publication is being brought out by the Commission not only togenerate awareness and to sensitize, but also as reference material to providesupport to the victims and to assist the persons required to implement theguidelines.7. We hope this publication would be a useful step forward in achieving ourgoal of having workplaces where women can work with dignity and without fear.(ii)(POORNIMA ADVANI)Chairperson
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Page 5: equirement as logical concomitant o
Page 12 and 13: Apparel Export Promotion Council v.
Page 14: 6. The Enquiry Officer concluded th
Page 18 and 19: 5. That the respondent tried to sit
Page 20 and 21: 20. After a detailed review of the
Page 22 and 23: y the Division Bench, itself demons
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Page 26 and 27: international instruments. The Cour
Page 28 and 29: Supreme Court of IndiaRecord of Pro
Page 30 and 31: Government of IndiaMinistry of Pers
Page 32 and 33: Explanation :- Where any comment, a
Page 34 and 35: etain the original complaint with h
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Vishaka and others V. State of Rajasthan and others.

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