Women Artists In Orchestras Often Face Sexual Harassment, Organizers Must Ensure A Safe Environment For Them: Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday emphasised the importance of ensuring a safe and respectful environment for women artists who are part of orchestras as dancers and singers, noting that they are often subject to sexual harassment and exploitation. A bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh noted that societal perceptions sometimes undermine their basic human rights, reducing these artists to objects of lust and that such attitudes towards them perpetuate gender-based violence and strip such women artists of their dignity. The Court added that these performers also deserve respect and have the right to live with dignity as the dignity of artists lies in their art, and thus, it is the organiser's responsibility that the workplace and environment of women artists is safe and respectful. “It is duty of all to create an environment where every artist can perform and express themselves freely without fear and intimidation because they are torchbearers of culture, creativity and expression in society,” the Court remarked. These observations were made by the bench while denying bail to a man, an organiser of orchestra parties, accused of molesting the victim, a part of an orchestra, and thereafter, threatening her with rape and eliminating her. Booked under Sections 64 (Rape), 332(b) (House-trespass in order to commit offence), 352 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351(3) (Criminal intimidation) of BNS, the accused-applciant was arrested in October last year. Seeking bail in the case, he moved the HC. Before the Court, his counsel argued that his client had been falsely implicated in the case and that the complainant had borrowed Rs. 25,000/- from the applicant. Still, she did not return, and to escape from her liabilities, she lodged the impugned FIR against the applicant to settle her score. On the other hand, the AGA, for the state, argued that the applicant is an organiser of the orchestra party, in which the victim was engaged as a dancer, and his act and conduct, as disclosed by the victim in the FIR as well as in her statements under Sections 180 and 183 BNSS, are heinous in nature. Therefore, it was argued that the applicant's bail application is liable to be rejected. Against this backdrop, noting that the victim's statement is a preliminary consideration for deciding the bail application and that there is no contradiction in the F.I.R. version as well as in the statements under Section 180 and 183 BNSS of the victim to vitiate the prosecution case, the Court denied him bail. The Court added that the case in hand involving the sexual exploitation of a victim, who is a dancer at an orchestra party by the organizer, was a grim reminder of perverse gender sexual violence in society. Case title - Manish Kumar Yadav vs. State of U.P 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 6 Case citation: 2025 LiveLaw (AB) 6 Click Here ToRead/Download Order

Women Artists In Orchestras Often Face Sexual Harassment, Organizers Must Ensure A Safe Environment For Them: Allahabad HC

Sparsh Upadhyay

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