Now blunt the other side

A signboard says, “MEN AT WORK”. An article declares, “Sexual Harassment at Work”. The worst is the combination of both ……Men at work indulging in Sexual Harassment at work.Sexual harassment of women prevailsat all times and at every nook and corner?

We take our readers back a few years Rajasthan. Government employees are required to follow instructions. One such social worker was deputed to educate the Rajasthanis about the evils of child marriage. She went about doing her job.

For all its militant history and its macho image, Rajasthan had its faults. Maybe because of, rather than in spite of, that reputation. The populace did not take kindly to this woman worker who dared to interfere in their timeless and hide-bound customs. The “men” decided to teach her a lesson.

Readers would have guessed what the ‘lesson’ would be. Of all the dignities that can ever be heaped on a woman, rape has no equal. It destroys the mind, the body and the soul. A woman’s very existence lies shattered. She faces a life of endless miserable memories. In short, death would be a saving grace.

The men were dismissive of this“low caste” woman who had dared them. The High Court was asked to adjudicate in the matter. How did it decide?

YOU BE THE JUDGE

With some convoluted and perverse reasoning, the defence team got the men acquitted. Something to do with high–class and educated men being wrongly challenged by a “low” woman.

India was awakening at that time. Globalisation and its wake were bringing in fresh air. Women had become aware of their rights and more than that, how to assert them. The old laws were found incapable of rendering justice. It was time to move the highest court in the land. Public Interest Litigations (PIL) had taken root. Women’s organisation had coalesced into active units. Under an umbrella group named after the abused woman, a PILwas filed in the Supreme Court of India.

The problem was of inadequate laws and their interpretation. Maybe the past had protected and treated women with more care and respect. Or the women were too uneducated to be aware of the possibilities of preserving their dignity. For whatever reason, the Court was aghast. Now it is not the business of the Judiciary to lay down the law. It has only to interpret the statues. But there had to be a way to remedy this malady. After all, similar, if not that brutal, cases were cropping up.

Pending resolution through appropriate legislation, the court, under the Chief Justice and Mrs.Sujata V. Manohar and Mr.  B. N. KirpalJJ.did not wait for the snail’s approach that politicians are prone to. Till laws to protect women at the workplace were passed, it set out a series of guidelines to ensure non-repetition of such heinous behaviour. Today, the victim’s name is the prefix for the rules instituted.

When, at last, Parliament shook off its slumber and came out with a bill, it was the next century. Yet heralded a new dawn, in both, the public and private as well as the unorganised sector.

Unfortunately, every woman in no Mother Teresa. Many complaints cropped up. At times, doubtful ones. The law had empowered women but “with great power comes greater responsibility”. The sword was double edged. Could it now be used indiscriminately against men? The sad answer was that it could. As with all good things, evil follows, and this possibility exists. So now it is up to the wonderful women of this nation to ensure that the law, so well fought for, does not deteriorate into a morass of indeterminate litigation.

Courtesy: Moneylife