In a first of its kind judgment, the Bombay High Court has issued guidelines to ensure confidentiality of hearings pertaining to matters of workplace sexual harassment of women. The guidelines issued by the court, in the matter of P v. A & Ors.1 (“PoSH Confidentiality Guidelines”), relate to inter alia the manner in which such cases should be heard and handled; how decisions should be recorded, pronounced and communicated and the precautionary steps to be followed while reporting such matters including by the media.
The PoSH Confidentiality Guidelines shall serve as a working protocol for the courts. The objective is to protect the identities of the parties from even accidental disclosure. The PoSH Confidentiality Guidelines as pointed out by the Bombay High Court are the bare minimum to be followed by the courts and are subject to necessary revisions or modifications.
One of the key objectives of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 ("PoSH Act") has been to provide for an effective grievance redressal mechanism for women who have been unfortunately subjected to workplace sexual harassment. However, the fact remains that owing to the fear of having to compromise their privacy resulting in shame, anxiety, humiliation, and fear, a large section of women still continue to take a back seat when it comes to reporting incidents of workplace sexual harassment.
In order to protect the...
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