CNW214 | Navigating Murky Waters: Addressing Sexual Harassment At The Workplace

This is a specialized course that develops on foundational courses that students would have covered during their 1st, 2nd and 3rd years as mandatory subjects. While focussed on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (hereinafter “POSH Act”), the course will be taught in an interdisciplinary manner that will make connections to the law and policy relating to the following subjects, amongst others –

• Sociology
• Jurisprudence
• Political Science
• Constitutional Law
• CPC/ Criminal Law (grievance redressal procedure)
• Law of Evidence (evidence analysis)
• Human Rights
• Labour Law
• ADR

Approach to course.  (Details of inclusions/exclusions of mateirals with primary or secondary readings / case law).

The POSH Act is only little more than a decade old, and yet has already become an important area of practice amongst lawyers across law firms, corporate organizations and academia. Enacted as part of the legal reforms to protect women against sexual violence following the Nirbhaya case, more recently the need for proper understanding and implementation of the POSH Act has shown up in newspaper headlines across industries – be in sports1, film2, oraviation3.

1 https://www.indiatoday.in/law/story/sexual-harassment-prevention-laws-in-place-but-glaring-lack-of implementation-say-lawyers-2324357-2023-01-20, India Today, January 20, 2023. “With senior sportspersons coming out with allegations of sexual harassment against the coaches and president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, what has clearly come to the fore is that provisions of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act were not being followed.”

2 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/malayalam/movies/news/wcc-says-they-stressed-the implementation-of-the-ic-during-their-meeting-with-kerala-cm-the-hema-committees-suggestions-must-be included-in-the-film-policy/articleshow/113299071.cms, Times of India, September 12, 2024. “The Women In Cinema Collective (WCC) met Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to address issues arising from the Hema Committee report. They highlighted the need to protect women’s privacy, improve the Internal Committee under the POSH Act…”

3 https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/flying-officer-accuses-wing-commander-of-rape-hush-up-finger-at-indian air-force/cid/2047171, The Telegraph Online, September 14, 2024. “IC (internal committee) did not do its job properly as directions had come from higher formation to keep the result as neutral. Everyone was aiding the sexual offender.” She said she requested interim relief and asked for leave multiple times but was denied.

Using our experience as practitioners of law in implementing the POSH Act, we have structured the course to bring out the relevance of the subject in an interdisciplinary manner, and to encourage an analytical discussion of the grievance redressal process contained in the POSH Act.

We will ask students to refer to primary materials including statutory law and caselaw, as well as secondary materials such as newspaper articles, journal articles/ academic publications, and audio-visual resource material. Finally, we will include discussion on various hypothetical case studies to highlight nuances of the subject matter based on actual inquiries.

Pedagogical method: lectures, Socratic discussion, seminar style discussion, response papers or group work, field work;

a) We will facilitate students in a Socratic discussion to consolidate their learnings from the preparatory material (readings and/or audio-visual material) assigned before every class.

b) Each session will also include a seminar-style discussion, which we will facilitate through the use of presentations (possibly using Mentimeter, which is an anonymous, interactive online tool).

c) During the course, we intend to conduct one debate (graded) on the aspect of Conciliation under the POSH Act, in light of the proposed amendments to remove the provision.

d) Students will also be asked to participate in an interactive group activity where they will play the role of IC members as they are presented with the opportunity to conduct a mock inquiry. We will provide them with facts, and play the roles of Complainant, Respondent and Witnesses who appear for the proceedings being conducted by the students. Students will be given time to conduct proceedings with all the parties to the inquiry, and apply their learnings from the course to analyze statements as well as any evidence and arrive at their findings and recommendations. Each student will then need to prepare and submit an Inquiry Report (individually) on which they will be graded.