MEDHA KOTWAL LELE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Vishaka, and Others v. State of Rajasthan and Others, 1997 6 SCC 241 judgment came on 13.8.1997. Yet,15 years after the guidelines were laid down by this Court for the prevention and redressal of sexual harassment and their due compliance under Article 141 of the Constitution of India until such time appropriate legislation was enacted by the Parliament, many women still struggle to have their most basic rights protected at workplaces. The statutory law is not in place.

(2.) This group of four matters in the nature of public interest litigation raises principally the grievance that women continue to be victims of sexual harassment at workplaces. The guidelines in Vishaka1 are followed in breach in substance and spirit by state functionaries and all other concerned. The women workers are subjected to harassment through legal and extra legal methods and they are made to suffer insult and indignity.

(3.) Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, inter alia, states, "Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of human rights and fundamental freedoms . In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture".