Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram   

Government yet to act on complaint of harassment at workplace

By M. Dinesh Varma

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Dec. 20. The Government is yet to act on an inquiry report that recommends disciplinary action as well as criminal proceedings against an official attached to the Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCTC) at the Medical College Hospital here for having allegedly harassed women employees at the Microbiology Department.

The inquiry report of the district-level complaint committee chaired by the former District Collector, E. Ayyappan, had been submitted to the Director of Medical Education in August this year. Further, it is learnt that the Director of Medical Education had endorsed the recommendations of the district-level committee on the alleged case of harassment at the workplace.

The inquiry by the district-level complaint committee had been initiated on the basis of a report from the Women's Cell, Medical College, which took cognisance of a complaint from the four women staff of the Microbiology Department, including the unit chief, regarding alleged misbehaviour and sexual harassment by the official. The aggrieved parties as well as the accused had been summoned before the panel and heard.

The district-level committee recommended stern measures against the official, a senior scientific officer at the VCTC, after concluding that he had made "sexually coloured" remarks to the women and on more than one occasion exhibited pornographic material before them. The State Women's Commission had also initiated an independent inquiry into the complaint of the women, but the report is still pending.

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