Sexual harassment refers to any form of unwelcome sexual behavior considered offensive, humiliating, or intimidating. Sexual harassment in the workplace is unwelcome or unwanted attention of a sexual nature from someone at a workplace that causes discomfort, humiliation, offense or distress, and/or interferes with the job. This includes all such actions and practices of a sexual nature by a person or a group of people directed at one or more workers. Sexual Harassment at work place is not so far recognized as a legally distinct type of prohibited activity in umpteen numbers of countries across the world. Legal systems in such countries tend to bring such acts within the scope of existing prescribed behavior either under criminal or civil laws. Let us discuss the Legal Framework in India.
Legal Framework in India
As we all know, there’s an absolute need for a Legal Framework in India. Until the Vishaka case, India has also been such a country where there are a plethora of legal provisions to identify, recognize, and define this problem may be, under various distinct categories and without identical terminologies. There is no gainsaying that each incident of sexual harassment at the place of work results in a violation of the fundamental right to gender equality and the right to life and liberty – the two most precious fundamental rights, guaranteed by the Constitution of India. In India, the Indian Penal code, 1860; the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908; the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 along with many other special acts and welfare legislations deal with this issue in one way or the other and provide for specific protection of women from such aberration.
The module “Legal Framework in India” includes the following:
- The Constitution of India
- The Indian Penal Code
- The Indian Evidence Act
- The Contract Law
- Torts
- Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013
