Bombay HC issues guidelines for safety of victims in workplace harassment cases
The Hindu
Hearings, orders to be in camera; no names to be mentioned; disclosure to invite contempt
The Bombay High Court has issued guidelines for hearing cases and recording orders in cases under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and Rules, and said, “names of both the parties will not mentioned” and “all orders and judgments will not be delivered in open court.”
Justice Gautam Patel said, “All persons, including the media, are required to ensure strict compliance with these conditions of anonymity. Failure to do so will be a contempt of court.”
The court was hearing a case involving issues under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 and Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.