Vishaka & ors. v/s state of Rajasthan is a case which deals with the evil of Sexual Harassment of a women at her workplace. It is a landmark judgment case in the history of sexual harassment which as being decide by Supreme Court.
Sexual Harassment means an uninvited/unwelcome sexual favor or sexual gestures from one gender towards the other gender. It makes the person feel humiliated, offended and insulted to whom it is been done.
| NAME OF THE CASE | VISHAKA & ORS. V STATE OF RAJASTHAN & ORS. |
| CITATION OF THE CASE | (1997) 6 SCC 241 |
| NAME OF THE COURT | HON’BLE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA |
| PETITIONERS IN THE CASE | VISHAKA AND ORS. |
| RESPONDENTS IN THE CASE | THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN AND ORS. |
| HON’BLE BENCH | Chief Justice J.S. Verma, Justice Sujata V. Manohar and Justice B.N. Kirpal. |
| JUDGMENT PASSED ON | 13TH AUGUST 1997 |
Facts of The Case
It all started since the year 1985 when Bhanwari Devi, was employed as a social worker (saathin) under a Women’s development Project initiated by the State government of Rajasthan, aiming to wipe out the social evil of child marriages in villages.
As a part of her work, she used to work with the families to prevent marriages and also reported cases to the police to when urgent follow up actions was needed.
In one particular case she tried to stop Ramkaran Gujjar’s infant daughter’s marriage although the marriage took place.
- In September 1992, to ostracize her from the community she was gang raped by five men in front of her husband while she was at her workplace.
- They went to the police station for help but no thorough investigation was launched.
- The male doctor in the primary health care in Jaipur refused to examine her and only recorded her age. 52 hours passed before a medical examination was conducted.
- However, in the absence of sufficient evidence the court had acquitted in the Trail court.
- This provoked women’s groups and NGO – VISHAKA (Group for Women’s education and research) joined together with four other women’s organizations to file a petition to the Supreme Court of India on the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace.
- The result is the Supreme court Judgment, which came on 13thAugust 1997 , and gave the Vishaka guidelines.
The matter was purported basically to the violation of Human rights specifically:-
Constitution of India
1. Article 14: Equality before the law
2. Article 15: Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion,race,caste, and birth.
3. Article 19(1)(g) : Right to practice one’s profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
4. Article 21 : Right to life and personal liberty
Issues
1.Whether sexual harassment in the workplace is a violation of Fundamental Rights under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution?
2.Whether International Convention can be applied in cases of the absence of appropriate domestic laws?
3.Whether there is a need for mandatory guidelines to be laid in the light of Sexual harassment at the workplace?
Bench’s Verdict
Firstly, the court ruled that such an incident is a crystal clear violation of Article 14, 15, 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.
Article 42 (Provision for Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief) 51A (Fundamental duties of the citizen).
Article 253 (Power of the Parliament to enact laws for the implementation of the International Conventions and Norms)
Article 73 (Extent of Executive power of the Union).
The court acknowledged the need for guidelines to render Gender equality
The Vishaka guidelines
- Duty of the employer or other persons in work places and other institutions.
- Complaint mechanism
- Disciplinary action
- Workers Initiative
- Awareness.
The Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013
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