Young Lawyers Send Copies Of POSH Act To SC Judges In Protest Against Clean Chit To CJI

Disillusioned with the manner in which the in-house panel cleared the name of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi from the sexual harassment allegations, a group of young lawyers have devised a novel way of protest.

They have started a "May It Please Your Lordship" campaign by sending the copies of The 'Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013'(POSH Act) to all the judges of the Supreme Court. 

Commenting about the campaign, one of young lawyers told Live Law on condition of anonymity :

"While protesters outside the Supreme Court demanding justice for the former Supreme Court staff in the sexual harassment allegations against the CJI Gogoi were being rounded up by the Police, a silent and yet potent protest has become viral especially, among the young members of the Bar and law students. The 'Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013' is being sealed and dispatched to all the judges of the Supreme Court by numerous people through post offices in the fervent hope that the Lordships get the message. In this saga of the sexual allegations against the CJI, law, process, natural justice, equity and fairness have all been compromised by the Hon'ble judges. This "May it Please Your Lordships" campaign is gathering momentum as a non disruptive yet effective tool to plead to the Hon'ble Justices to apply the same rules to themselves as they do to others."

                                                                                                                                                   ( A student from Oxford University sending the copy)

The conclusion made by panel headed by Justice Bobde in the absence of the complainant, and its decision not to supply the copy of the report to the complainant have attracted widespread criticism from several persons in the legal fraternity. 

Expressing lack of confidence in the impartiality of the panel, the former SC employee had decided to walk out of the enquiry. She complained that her demands for legal representation, video recording of the proceedings and compliance of POSH Act and Visakha guidelines were not addressed by the panel, which had Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee as additional members.

In a press release, she said that she felt "intimidated and nervous in the presence of three Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court and without having a lawyer or support person". "I felt I was not likely to get justice from this committee and so I am no longer participating in the 3 Judge Committee proceedings", the complainant said.

The POSH Act mandates that the Internal Complaints Committee to deal with complaints of sexual harassment should be presided by a woman, and should have an external member. It further states that the copy of the final report should be supplied to the complainant. 

Yesterday, groups of lawyers and activists had gathered outside the SC to protest the panel decision. The protesters were taken into police custody for violating the orders under Section 144 CrPC which prohibit demonstrations in Court vicinity, and were released later.