A sathin working for a state-run women’s development programme in Rajasthan was gangraped by five upper caste men in 1992. It was followed by an appalling display of negligence and deliberate inaction on the part of the police, the medical personnel and the magistrate, all of whom went out of their way to prevent the sathin from registering her case and providing evidence. One question, which arose from the case was whether, apart from rape, the State could camouflage its own accountability in the matter, since the sathin had complained to the local authorities about the sexual harassment she faced.The state’s failure to have any functional policy on sexual harassment for its village department workers appeared to cast some degree of liability on the state. This amongst other issues became the basis of the public interest litigation filed by women’s organisations in the Supreme Court.On August 13, 1997, the Supreme Court of India issued a judgment against sexual harassment at the workplace, which has come to be known as the Vishaka judgment. It laid down the definition of sexual harassment, preventive measures and redress mechanisms. It stipulated a mandatory complaint committee on sexual harassment at all workplaces and institutions.This case was the first time that the law recognised sexual harassment as a human rights violation and it did so keeping India’s obligations under international instruments. Given the social context of the sathin, the case was all the more unique as it presented a realistic working context of a woman where ‘‘workplace’’ has no definitive meaning. The judgment reaffirmed that the law was of ‘‘sufficient amplitude to encompass all the acts of gender equality including prevention of sexual harassment or abuse.’’The most inspiring outcome of ‘Vishaka’ is that, for the first time, the need to alter systemic violence against women at work received judicial recognition by an implied focus on the need to change attitudes. That approach led the court to develop broad-based guidelines, which are applicable at the workplace as well as other institutions.(Extracted from Sakshi report)
