New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has ordered the reinstatement of a woman editor in a publication house, who was terminated from service after she accused her employer of sexual harassment.

The court remarked that instead of assisting the aggrieved woman in prosecuting her complaint of sexual harassment, the organisation has been opposing her tooth and nail and has even terminated her services pending the inquiry before the Local Committee.

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Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva held that the woman's complaint against the employer will be handled by the Local Complaints Committee as the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) would not have any jurisdiction to entertain any complaint against the secretary, against whom allegations have been made.

The court held the secretary to be an employer under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act and quashed the February 14, 2020 office memorandum of the organisation by which the services of the woman were terminated.

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The court clarified that nothing stated in the judgement shall amount to an expression of opinion on the merits of the allegations made by the aggrieved woman or the defence of the secretary.

It said the woman would be deemed to continue in service but as a probationer in terms of her appointment letter till the conclusion of the inquiry by the local committee and added that she is reinstated to her former position, with continuity of service, full back wages, and other consequential service benefits.

“The organisation shall forthwith pay her salary for the current month and clear the arrears of her salary within four weeks. The aggrieved woman shall be deemed to be on paid leave till the local committee passes appropriate interim orders concerning the provision of a safe working environment to her,” Justice Sachdeva said.

The court said the competent authority of the organisation would be at liberty to review her performance and take a decision on her employment status after submission and implementation of the report by the local committee.

As per the woman, from March 2014 onwards she faced severe sexual harassment of many forms at the hands of the secretary, which allegedly included inappropriate sexual advances, unwelcome physical and sexual contact, and sexually coloured remarks.

It was alleged that he regularly made racist and sexist comments on women hailing from a particular part of the country.

In December 2017, she was appointed to the post of Editor (English) on probation for two years and as per the appointment letter, during the period of probation, her services could be terminated without notice or assigning any reason for the same.

In February 2018, she was issued a provisional appointment order confirming her appointment to the post of Editor (English), the woman said, adding that as a counterblast to her objections to the inappropriate behaviour of the man, he started abusing her in front of other colleagues without any fault.

It was alleged that besides sexual harassment, the woman was repeatedly subjected to baseless and frivolous office memorandums which were sent to tarnish her employment record, and in November 2019, she gave a complaint at a police station here against the secretary after which an FIR was lodged.

She also sent an e-mail to the executive board of the publishing house on the very same day, demanding the constitution of an independent committee to investigate the allegation. She added that the ICC lacked jurisdiction since her complaint was against the employer.

She alleged that despite her reservations about handing over the complaint to the ICC in contravention of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act), the President of the executive board referred the complaint to the ICC and nominated two external members. Ultimately, no action was taken against the employer.

The complainant further alleged that she was sent several notices by the ICC to appear before it even though she had given written replies arguing that it lacked jurisdiction.

She also wrote to the local committee, which took cognisance of the matter on December 16, 2019, and directed the secretary to file his reply and also granted the woman three months' paid leave.

The woman alleged that members of the ICC pressurised her to withdraw her complaint before the police and the local committee and also reconcile with the secretary and had disposed of her complaint.

Subsequently, an office memorandum was issued in February 2020 terminating her employment and despite repeated reminders to the publication house requesting it to comply with the directions of the local committee, nothing was done, the plea said, adding that thereafter, the woman approached the high court seeking various reliefs.

The woman sought compliance with the direction to grant her three months' paid leave and to restrain the publication house from taking any adverse decision concerning her employment status pending the decision of the local committee.

The organisation defended the constitution of the ICC, saying it was formed by the President and not the Secretary, against whom the complaint was made, and that the woman, who was on probation, was terminated keeping in view her performance.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)