SC Intercepts HC Ruling on POSH Complaints by Women Lawyers, Seeks Govt, BCI Response
Image Source: Internet
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Centre and the Bar Council of India (BCI) on a petition challenging a Bombay High Court ruling that bars women advocates from filing POSH complaints against bar councils. The petition argues that this decision leaves women lawyers without a remedy, as the high court ruled that the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013, does not apply to bar councils. The Bombay High Court had ruled in July that no 'employer-employee relationship' exists between lawyers and bar councils, therefore, the POSH Act cannot be applied. However, the petition claims that this judgment ignores the existence of a Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) in the Supreme Court, which handles complaints of sexual harassment by women lawyers and staff. The petitioner, the Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association, has argued that the high court's decision creates a significant void in addressing grievances of women lawyers against sexual harassment. They also pointed out that the Bombay High Court's conclusion that Section 35 of the Advocates Act can be used by women lawyers to file complaints of sexual harassment is an 'erroneous' and 'unreasonable' finding. The Supreme Court has now sought responses from the Centre and the BCI on the petition. The matter is significant, as it could have far-reaching implications for women lawyers across India. The court has observed that the judgment raises 'grave concerns' and 'serious ramifications' on a pan-India level. The petitioner has also highlighted the progressive judgments passed by the Supreme Court in Vishaka v State of Rajasthan (1997) and Medha Kotwal Lele (2013), which gave an expansive meaning to securing women in workplaces and ordered internal complaints committees to be set up in every public or private workplace. The matter is still pending in the court and is being heard in the context of the implementation of the 2013 Act in professional bodies.
