NGO Lawyers Collective seeks inclusion of external member in the Committee overseeing sexual harassment case

Lawyers Collective – Women’s Rights Initiative, has submitted an amicus brief to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and to the Committee constituted by the CJI to look into the sexual harassment of the law intern, requesting reconstitution of the Committee to include an external member in compliance with the Vishakha judgment of 1997..The brief also prays for keeping the names of those deposing before the Committee confidential and for extending witness protection to those deposing before the Committee..Further, the brief seeks formulation of Guidelines by the Supreme Court to deal with appointment, conditions of work, and terms of engagement of interns and law clerks with Supreme Court Judges along with an affirmative policy to encourage and facilitate the engagement of women interns and law clerks..Most importantly, the brief also calls upon the Chief Justice of India to reframe the Gender Sensitization and Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Regulations, 2013, in order to ensure that all forms of sexual harassment are covered under its purview, no matter where it occurs, whether within or outside the Supreme Court precincts..Meanwhile, the Punjab & Haryana High Court (HC) Bar also seems to have woken up to the incidents in the Apex Court. 59 Advocates made a representation to the Chief Justice (CJ) of the HC yesterday demanding setting up of Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) for the HC and the subordinate courts in the States of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh..Pursuant to a writ petition (Binu Tamta v. High Court of Delhi, WP (c) 162/ 2013) filed by Advocates Binu Tamta and Vibha Makhija pertaining to the safety of female lawyers in courts, the Supreme Court had, earlier this year, accepted and approved the Gender Sensitisation & Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013 (Regulations) for prevention of sexual harassment at the Supreme Court and had also urged all the High Courts to formulate similar regulations..Relying on the same, the representation to the CJ states that.“formation of a GSICC is of great importance given that there are no adequate mechanisms for redressal of issues of sexual harassment of women in the precincts of the High Court and subordinate courts.”.The representation also calls for enactment of regulations on the lines of the Regulations framed by the Supreme Court.