It takes guts to file a sexual harassment case and recalling the incidence can be a traumatic affair for any woman. So, is it asking too much from the court and authorities to show a bit of consideration and sensitivity while handling such cases? It seems the disdain is all-pervasive as evidenced by Riju Bafna, a young IAS officer, who was screamed at and not afforded any privacy when she demanded it during her sexual harassment hearing. Rather she was told to put up with it!
It all started when Riju started receiving lewd messages from Santosh Chaubey, the Ayogmitra of the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission. Not one to take it silently, she lodged an FIR against the official and he was removed from his job. But she received another shock while giving her statement, when advocate Lalit Sharma refused to budge from her side, despite repeated requests for privacy. And he rudely proclaimed, “How dare you suggest me to leave, I am an advocate here and you might be an officer in your office but not in the Court.” Bafna stood her ground and made it clear that she was asking for privacy as a woman and not an IAS officer. There was flaring of tempers after which the advocate left. Later, when she took up the matter to the judge about respecting a woman’s privacy, especially when she is filing a sexual harassment case, the judge unapologetically told her that she was only demanding such things because she is young!
If an IAS officer is meted out such insensitive treatment, one can only imagine what the women from lesser-privileged backgrounds might be facing, while filing cases of sexual harassment!
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