A Blanket Cover

Context: Bombay High Court POSH guidelines risk silencing victims of sexual harassment.

Bombay High Court POSH (prevention of sexual harassment) guidelines

• Aimed at protection of identities of those involved in POSH trails.
• Guidelines prohibit disclosure of identities of victim, accused and witnesses, and mandate that all such court hearings be held in-camera or in judges’ chambers, with only court stenographer, plaintiff, defendant and their lawyers being present.
• Even court orders and judgments will not be delivered in open court and cases will no longer be published or uploaded for public consumption.
• Media blockade: Parties to POSH trials are prohibited from disclosing any information relating to such trials to the media or publicising the same via social media, without permission from the court.
• Breach of these conditions will be contempt of court.

Issues associated with these guidelines

• Stretch the need for confidentiality far more than necessary: The privilege of confidentiality in POSH cases are based on is reasonable expectation of retaliation at the workplace, but extending it to a blanket ban is not necessary.
• Beyond legislated limits: POSH Act does not expressly prohibit complainants and respondents from themselves revealing this information.
• Moral question: Why confidentiality extended to cases of sexual harassment at workplaces at workplace only? Does confidentiality not valued at other spheres of life?
• Could potentially result in habitual offenders hiding behind this veil of confidentiality and could prevent the public from learning about the actions of powerful employers accused of protecting perpetrators.
• Against the need for transparency and accountability in the judicial process: Guidelines prevent access to information that would otherwise assist in better resolution of sexual harassment complaints.
• Strengthens existing social challenges: Reality of sexual harassment is that it goes unnoticed and unspoken about in a majority of cases.

Conclusion: The #MeToo movement has shown us how one voice encourages many others to speak up, bringing to light a truth that is hard for society to accept. A court judgment like this could in effect lead to the silencing of many such voices, without doing anything much to prevent future sexual harassment.