The Hindu : Setting up of complaint panels urged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 26, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Setting up of complaint panels urged

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JAN. 25. Every organisation and institution, where men and women work together, should have a fully functional `complaints committee on sexual harassment' as per the Supreme Court's directive, said the member of National Commission for Women, Nirmala Sitaraman, at a press conference here on Sunday.

The Supreme Court order stated that every organisation and department should have one such committee headed by a woman with at least half of its members being women. There should also be a third party representation from outside the organisation, preferably an NGO or a women's group.

Ms. Sitaraman said that the Supreme Court order had the force of law and the organisations and departments, which were not implementing it, were committing `contempt of court.' Many organisations expressed ignorance of this order and Government departments said they were still awaiting directive from their superiors. This was not a valid argument and she warned that if such complaints committees were not set up forthwith the Commission would not hesitate to initiate contempt of court proceedings against erring organisations and Government departments.

She said that the Commission had held a meeting with representatives of about 100 organisations in the Administrative Staff College on Saturday and expressed dismay at the low level of awareness regarding the need to set up sexual harassment complaint committees. She also said that the Commission would soon write to the Chief Minister's Office requesting a directive to all Government departments and organisations to set up these committees. She said that a draft bill on controlling sexual harassment at the workplace was under preparation and would be introduced in the next session of Parliament. Ms. Sitaraman also expressed concern at the plight of police widows, especially in States facing Naxalite violence, and demanded proper rehabilitation package for them and their children. She said that Andhra Pradesh already had many schemes for police widows but the Commission wanted to hold a public hearing of police widows to understand their problems and work out better solutions.

She also announced that the Commission was collaborating with the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD) to train Dalit women sarpanches elected in the last round of panchayat elections. She said that this was the first time that women in the rural areas, specially women from deprived backgrounds, were assuming responsible positions and it was unjust to expect that there would be no `teething problems.' These women sarpanches lacked establishment support as well as access to knowledge which was hampering their performance. She said that this training programme, to be held within the next two months, would address these issues.

Ms. Sitaraman also spoke about the need for self-censorship by TV producers to reduce vulgarity in their programmes as well as on the Commission's efforts to rehabilitate sex workers.

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