'Up to SC to show if it really understands sexual harassment'

A recent blog post by a young lawyer, where she accused a retired Supreme Court judge of sexually harassing her, has caused quite a controversy and raised the oft-hushed up issue of sexual harassment of women in India’s courts.

The lawyer, Stella James, who graduated from Kolkata’s National University of Juridical Sciences, wrote that the incident took place last December, during the time of the Delhi gang-rape protests.  She wrote in her blog, “I dodged police barricades and fatigue to go to the assistance of a highly reputed, recently retired Supreme Court judge whom I was working under during my penultimate semester. For my supposed diligence, I was rewarded with sexual assault (not physically injurious, but nevertheless violating) from a man old enough to be my grandfather. I won’t go into the gory details, but suffice it to say that long after I’d left the room, the memory remained, in fact, still remains, with me.” Her full blog post is available here .

She also gave an interview to the website LegallyIndia, stating why she didn’t resort to legal recourse. “There were no other witnesses, it was just me. It was a hotel room, [people> saw me walking in voluntarily, saw me walking out very calmly. I didn’t even walk out [with> fear. At that moment I felt I needed to walk out very calmly. I never mentioned anything the same day to anybody,” she told LegallyIndia.

While the victim has not named the judge in question and might not have filed a formal complaint, the Supreme Court in turn, has taken note of the matter. The Advocate General GE Vanavahti filed a petition on the issue before the court yesterday, and the court has now set up a three judge committee to inquire into the matter. The committee will give its report in two weeks time.

The incident has raised serious concerns for how women are treated in the highest court in India’s judicial system. The fact that a former judge has been accused of the harassment is a first but when it comes to general sexual harassment in courts, the story isn’t new.

A female lawyer who’s been practising at the Supreme Court (who did not wish to be named) told us that while it would unfair to paint everyone with the same brush, sexual harassment of female lawyers does take place and that the court maybe not always be most friendly place for women.

“On the pretext of professional success, people harass lady lawyers or try to take advantage of them in their chambers,” she said.

“Some people in the court even think that female lawyers do not have the capability of getting favourable orders, so they smile at the judges to get them. This is demeaning as well as insulting for the female lawyers as well as for the judges," the lawyer said.

“However there have been several incidents of harassment in the court which is why the Supreme Court has laid down guidelines and directed the authorities to constitute a committee for this,” she said.

And while harassment, both overt and subtle might take place, it is often not considered an urgent concern requiring redressal.  The fact that the Supreme Court also pulled up the Sexual Harassment Committee in the court when the matter was raised yesterday is testimony to this.  The Committee has still not received nominations as neither the Advocates nor the Clerks Association sent any names.

“It’s not that this is happening for the first time nor is it only in the legal profession. However, this is the first time that a case has been filed against a former Supreme Court judge. While we do have the laws, we have the Vishaka judgement, nobody thinks that sexual harassment is an important matter. Women lawyers have been raising the issue of sexual harassment in courts for a long time now,” Vrinda Grover, a well-known lawyer said.

On the current case, Grover said, “With this case, we’ll have to wait and see. It is now up to to the Supreme Court to show whether it really understands and comprehends sexual harassment, given that they have set a up committee to inquire into the issue.”

But having a committee is just not enough. How it functions is another matter, altogether.

Jayshree Satpute, another lawyer at the Supreme Court who has worked extensively for the rights of marginalised women said, “Let’s not forget that the courts are also a workplace and that such cases can and will arise here too. We have robust framework in place to deal with the cases of sexual harassment at the workplace which needs to be complied with. The committee, as prescribed by act and guidelines issued in Binu Tamta’s case needs to be functional. Also, awareness of its assistance needs to be created among lawyers, interns and staff.”

“Women need to know that they can approach the committee without any fear and it can deal with complaints in a sensitive manner while following norms and laws in place,” she added.

The Binu Tamta case saw the Supreme Court setting up guidelines for prevention of sexual harassment at the Supreme Court and the manner in which the committee needs to function.

Very often not every subtle comment or action is seen as sexual harassment.

Mihira Sood, another prominent SC lawyer, said, “This case is an eye opener not just to harassment in courts, which is very prevalent, but also to the fact that harassment can take many forms, not all of which are physical or threatening in the strict sense of the word.”

“Many people argue that unless there was groping, or a demand for sexual favours under threat of job loss or pay cut or some other recognizable threat, it is not harassment. This is a convenient way of ensuring that sexual harassment is never punished, or even identified for what it is, because in most cases perpetrators are careful to not be so blatant. I hope that the enquiry deals with this aspect of harassment and discrimination as well,” she said.

When it comes to sexual harassment at workplace, women in nearly every profession in India, do face it at some point. At times it is in the form of casual remark or touch, in some cases it more brutal and violent. And many times, they choose not to speak out for fear of repercussions and shame.

What is crucial right now is how the Supreme Court, the highest court in India, deals with the case as it could set an example for how other professions and institutions deal with menace of sexual harassment.