A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking extension of the Vishakha guidelines to prevent sexual harassment of women devotees in all ashrams, madarsas and Christian institutions.

The PIL, which is yet to be listed for a formal hearing, has been filed by an advocate, Maneesh Pathak, who has cited the rising incidents of sexual exploitation of women devotees by self-styled babas and preachers.

The Vishakha judgment of 1997 was a landmark ruling that made it mandatory for all workplaces, both government and private, employing 10 people or more to have redress committees to deal with cases of sexual harassment of women employees.

The court had ruled at that time that its guidelines would be in force until Parliament enacted a suitable legislation. It was only in 2013 that Parliament enacted the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act to deal with sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

The judgment as well as the law dealt with harassment at workplaces and did not cover ashrams and other establishments associated with faith.