Aspirant Academy

Behavior and Law

Introduction and Legislative History

Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013 (Sections 1–9, 11–20)

Paper III · Unit 3 Section 2 of 15 0 PYQs 24 min
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Introduction and Legislative History

1.1 The Vishaka Turning Point

In 1992, Bhanwari Devi, a Rajasthan state government employee and social activist in Bhateri village of Jaipur district, was gang-raped by upper-caste men for trying to prevent a child marriage. The case highlighted the absence of any legal protection against sexual harassment at workplaces.

A women's rights group, Vishaka, along with others, filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court. In the landmark judgment Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997), the Supreme Court:

  1. Defined sexual harassment for the first time in Indian law
  2. Laid down employer obligations as Vishaka Guidelines
  3. Declared the guidelines as binding law under Articles 14, 15, 19(1)(g), and 21 of the Constitution and CEDAW (Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women)

These guidelines served as the law for 16 years until Parliament enacted the POSH Act 2013, which received Presidential assent on 22 April 2013 and came into force on 9 December 2013.

1.2 Significance

The POSH Act marked a paradigm shift:

  • Before: Only criminal law applied (Section 354 IPC — outraging modesty); slow, stigmatising, required police
  • After: Workplace-specific civil/quasi-criminal mechanism; confidential; employer-driven; fast (60-day inquiry)