Railway Ministry is directed to pay compensation to a victim s*xually harassed by seniors in the office
That the Appellant during the course of making submissions in person had repeatedly expressed anguish at, inspite of being brave enough to take up cudgels in this regard, at the cost of bringing herself into the limelight and making herself a subject of comments and ridicule by all concerned, she at the end has been falsified. If indeed there was merit/any truth in the complaint of the Appellant and which owing to sheer lapse of time cannot now be determined, there is considerable weightage in the said submission of the Appellant. A woman complaining of s*xual harassment does indeed invite undue and unfavourable attention to herself and is singled out and left friendless and which can be a harrowing experience. The plight of a woman who nevertheless undergoes such traumatic experience at work place and whose complaintremains unaddressed can well be appreciated. All that we thus deem fit to do by this judgment is to declare that the complaint of the Appellant of s*xual harassment has remained to be properly looked into and thus it cannot be said that the complaint of the Appellant was false.
We accordingly dispose of this appeal with a direction to the respondents to count the period of leave since January, 1998 of the Appellant, for the purposes of qualifying service for promotion and retirement benefits as well as to pay to the Appellant the salary for the time she proceeded on leave. The said directions be complied within a period of six weeks from today. The Appellant is entitled to compensation in a sum of Rs.5 Lakhs which shall be paid by the respondent Railways. We also award to the Appellant costs of Rs.50,000/- of the legal proceedings, also payable by the respondent Railways within six weeks from today.
We accordingly dispose of this appeal with a direction to the respondents to count the period of leave since January, 1998 of the Appellant, for the purposes of qualifying service for promotion and retirement benefits as well as to pay to the Appellant the salary for the time she proceeded on leave. The said directions be complied within a period of six weeks from today. The Appellant is entitled to compensation in a sum of Rs.5 Lakhs which shall be paid by the respondent Railways. We also award to the Appellant costs of Rs.50,000/- of the legal proceedings, also payable by the respondent Railways within six weeks from today.
Delhi High Court
Manisha Sharma vs Union Of India And Ors on 21 December, 2012
