Is a male colleague sending you heart emojis despite you asking him to stop? Is he trying to touch you? Is he asking for sexual favours in exchange for your promotion?
If so, why haven’t you reported him? Are you scared of stigma within the office? Do you fear losing your job by reporting a senior? Do you not have time to make multiple trips to court if you lodge a police complaint?
The law has provided solutions to all the above but sadly, not many women know about them. To create awareness, a seminar was held last week on prevention of sexual harassment at work. It was conducted by and held at the New Town office of EMRI Green Health Services.
Men's rights activist Nandini Bhattacharjee addresses the crowd
This is a private company that operates on a public-private partnership with the government to provide the 102 phone helpline service across the state. The helpline is for pregnant women and infants, who in case of emergencies, are ferried by ambulance free of cost to the nearest government hospital.
“Our company has over 3,200 employees in Bengal, out of which 23 per cent are female. Some sit at call centres and others are on the field. Our ambulances have a pilot (driver) and an attendant, who is often female,” explained Bikash Das, chief operating officer of the concern. “With so many women on board, we want to create a safe space for them.”
HR head Soumen Sengupta added that while this Hyderabad-based company has been in Bengal for seven years, it’s over the past year-and-a-half that they have started getting complaints of sexual harassment. “But we are also getting false allegations. Either way, we must create awareness of this Act so women speak up and investigation will be done in an unbiased manner,” said Sengupta.
The main speakers at the event were advocate Bijaya Chanda and president of All Bengal Men’s Forum Nandini Bhattacherjee. They explained to the audience the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, that is also known as (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Posh Act.
Call for early sensitisation
Chanda began by addressing a root cause of harassment and said it was all linked to mindsets.
“Have you wondered why there are more men than women at field jobs? It’s because gender roles get defined from childhood. When there’s a strenuous job at hand, we ask boys to do it, but if they get hurt, we say boys don’t cry. If a girl child needs to relieve herself in public, family members form a guard around her. But boys are casually asked to take a leak in a drain,” she said.
Growing up, even if girls want to take up field jobs like engineering, they are told which streams to pursue so they will be “safe”, said Chanda. “When I became a lawyer, I was told not to take criminal law as it wasn’t for women. I pursued it nonetheless. Now despite being a woman I am called ‘ukil babu’.”
The moral of the story is that boys believe they have more freedom. “They are told that they are born to protect girls. So naturally they think girls are less than them and try to keep girls under their control. To top it all, teenagers are told that sex education is a bad thing. If they show interest in it, they are labeled indecent,” Chanda noted.
While this Posh workshop was commendable, she urged the audience to sensitise their children about gender equality. “If students are taught these in school, they won’t have to sit for such seminars in office,” she said.
Need for separate Act
If an incident occurs, the plaintiff can always approach the police but it will be easier if she goes through this Act and approaches the Internal Complaint Committee (ICC), a mandatory body that all offices must have.
In such a case, the entire proceedings will happen at her workplace. She won’t have to visit police stations and courts. She’ll save money, energy and time, as the ICC must complete its investigation in 90 days. Also, her privacy will be maintained.
Types of harassment
This is a broad umbrella including any unwelcome physical contact or advances, demand for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks or innuendos, showing pornography etc.
“But it is subjective and depends on the situation,” said Chanda. “A back slap from a friend is a done thing but a colleague sliding his hand down your back is creepy.”
Bhattacherjee said there was a fine line between sexual harassment and flirting. “If a male colleague compliments your outfit, you’ll be over the moon if you fancy the man. But if you don’t like him, you might find it offensive and decide to lodge a complaint. So learn to take an innocent compliment and don’t escalate it for selfish reasons,” she said.
Sabina Yesmin, the external member of the ICC at EMRI Green Health Services, mentioned the case of a man who kept sending heart-shaped emojis to a woman colleague despite her asking him to stop. “If basic laws were taught at the school level more women would not hesitate to speak out,” said Yesmin, who is the chief operating officer at the NGO Southern Health Improvement Samity.
Where to apply Act
It is applicable at every workplace — government, private, and even the unorganised sector. A house that employs a domestic help counts as a workplace. Colleges are also included under this act.
The workplace must have an ICC. This is a committee that will investigate the allegations. Ideally, it must comprise more women than men and be headed by a senior woman official. There must be an external member too who has knowledge of the law. This will provide neutrality as the internal members are likely to have a rapport with the plaintiff and accused.
The ICC has an odd number of members so there is always a majority in the rulings.
Since an ICC is not possible in the unorganised sector, the district officer looks into it. “Only women can complain under this act, but complaints can be made against both men and women,” added Bhattacharjee.
How it works
Usually, a complaint must be made within three months of the incident.
The plaintiff must submit the complaint in writing and provide six copies of it, one of which must be sent to the accused. Witnesses to the incident, if any, must be mentioned. If the plaintiff wants to resolve the matter face to face, she may mention so. It does not matter even if there aren’t witnesses or evidence.
The ICC functions as a civil court. It can demand documents and summon the accused or witnesses. To protect privacy, the case, including the persons involved, cannot be made public before the results are out.
At the end of the investigation, the ICC will make recommendations to the employer, who will take action as per the company’s service rules. If proven true, the plaintiff is eligible for three months’ paid leave to deal with her trauma. If proven false, the committee can recommend punishment for the woman.
If the case involves something as serious as rape, it may recommend the case be handed over to the police.
Usually, either party cannot get a lawyer or family member at the ICC meetings and if they are dissatisfied with the result, may appeal to the high court within 90 days.
Also within the ICC’s ambit is the task of creating awareness of this Act.
False cases
Bhattacharjee talked of an incident at an IT firm where either a particular man or a particular woman was to go to the US for a project. “When the man got selected, the bitter woman made a phone call to him from the office washroom, asking him to bring her bag. The pair had been dating for five years so he didn’t find the request odd,” Bhattacharjee said.
“The unassuming man went into the ladies’ toilet and the woman screamed, alleging he had molested her. The man got reported and the woman flew to the States,” she said.
Such incidents, she said, were on the rise, and she urged women to grow a conscience. “Remember that your father or husband can also face such false allegations. And when your case is proven false, you will lose face at work. If you resign you will be branded trouble-maker and not get another job,” Bhattacharjee said.
“It becomes difficult for the ICC too. After four false cases, they start doubting the authenticity of the fifth one even if it is genuine,” said the activist, adding that the Act itself was biased since it only allows women to make complaints.
Equality wanted
“Can men not face exploitation? Statistics say 18 per cent rapes in India happen on men so why this discrimination? What about transgenders? After sex change, neither men nor women want to allow them into toilets in many offices. They are forced to resign. But under this Act, transgenders can only complain if they are women after the surgery,” she explained.
As for women objecting to sexually laced jokes, she said this was the lingo of young women today.
She asked people to watch a 2013 Arjun Rampal film Inkaar and 2019 Akshaye Khanna film Section 375: Marzi Ya Zabardasti? They are about false cases of sexual harassment by women at an office and film setup.
“Teachers are scared to meet students after class these days for fear of false allegations. A doctor with 30 years of experience at a renowned hospital in our area got falsely accused of harassment when he was alone in his chamber with a woman. He got show-caused,” Bhattacharjee said.
A man from the audience, in fact, said they were always on guard while interacting with women. Das himself said senior officials never call women into their cabins alone. Another man said that the female attendants often play the period card to get out of work. “They want to go home as soon as it’s evening and if we persist, say they have a ‘biological problem’. That’s a dead end to the conversation as we have nothing to say after that,” said the man.
To this, Bhattacharjee told women that playing the period card repeatedly would only drag them down in their careers. “The best jobs go to he/ she who is most available. For the rest, it’s out of sight, out of mind,” she said.
“As for men, if you are uncomfortable about a woman colleague, complain. There are no laws on your side now, but if multiple complaints pour in, the authorities are bound to take action. This is how women got their way and this is the way forward for men too,” Bhattacharjee said.