New Delhi: The Modi government Wednesday launched SHe-Box and constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine the existing legal and institutional frameworks for dealing with matters of sexual harassment of women at the workplace.
The Group of Ministers will be headed by the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Its Members are Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Defence, and Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Minister of Women and Child Development.
The GoM will recommend action required for effective implementation of the existing provisions, as well as for strengthening the existing legal and institutional frameworks for addressing issues related to sexual harassment at workplace.
The Group of Ministers has been constituted in view of the need for broader consultation on this issue, from the point of view of developing appropriate recommendations and laying down a comprehensive plan of action and for ensuring its time bound implementation.
The move comes weeks after a number of cases of sexual harassment came to light after Bollywood star Tanushree Dutta took lead alleging that actor Nana Patekar sexually harassed her during the shooting of a film.
Tanushree's Dutta's #MeToo exposure was soon followed by others including about more than two dozen female journalists accusing Union Minister MJ Akbar of sexual misconduct. Akbar later resigned from the Modi cabinet.
"The Government is committed to ensure the safety and dignity of women in the workforce. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act is the key legislation for preventing and protecting women against sexual harassment in the workplace and to ensure effective redressal of complaints of sexual harassment", Union Ministry of Home said.
"The Group of Ministers will, within 3 months of its constitution, examine the existing provisions for the safety of women, including those mentioned above, and recommend further measures required to strengthen and make them more effective", it said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has also launched an Electronic Complaints Box to enable women, irrespective of their work status, to raise their voice against sexual harassment at workplace.
"Once a complaint is submitted to the ‘SHe-Box’, it is directly sent to the concerned authority having jurisdiction to take action into the matter. A mechanism will be put in place to regularly monitor the action taken on the complaints", the Ministry of Home said.
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