Kerala High Court Brings Regulations To Curb Sexual Harassment Of Women At High Court

The Chief Justice of Kerala High Court has notified the Gender Sensitisation & Sexual Harassment of Women at the High Court of Kerala (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2026.The Regulations will come into effect from March 23, 2026. Definition of Sexual HarassmentAs per Regulation 2(m), sexual harassment includes any one or more of the following unwelcome acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication) committed within the High Court precincts namely:physical contact and advances;a demand or request for sexual favours; making sexually coloured remarks; showing or exhibiting pornography and/or sexually explicit material by any means;sending undesirable sexually coloured oral or written messages, text messages, e-mail messages, or any such messages by electronic, manual or other means; stalking or consistently following aggrieved woman; voyeurism including overt or tacit observation by the Respondent by any means of the aggrieved woman in her private moments;any conduct whereby the Respondent takes advantage of his position and subjects the aggrieved woman to any form of sexual harassment and seeks sexual favours especially while holding out career advancements whether explicitly or implicitly, as an incentive or a natural result of submitting to the insinuations/ demands of the Respondent; any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non- verbal conduct of sexual nature;implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her career or employment; implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her career or employment; implied or explicit threat about her present or future career or employment;interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for her, orany treatment having a sexual colour or content likely to affect her emotional and/or physical health or safety.Aggrieved womanAggrieved woman means a female of any age whether or not employed by the High Court and who claims to have been subjected to sexual harassment by any person in the High Court precincts. However, it would not include female employees of the High Court and the Advocate General's Office.High Court precinctsThe High Court precincts means the whole premises of the High Court including the Court Block, open grounds, parking areas, old and new buildings including Ram Mohan Palace, libraries, canteens, Bar Association halls/rooms, health centers and/or any other part of the premises and/or offices under the control of the Chief Justice.Internal Complaints Committee There shall be a Kerala High Court Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC), which will have the duty of sensitizing the public regarding gender issues and of addressing complaints regarding sexual harassment at the High Court premises.The GICC constituted shall be for a term of 2 years and no member can be nominated for more than two consecutive terms.Constitution of GICCThe GICC shall have 7 to 13 members, and the majority of which must be women members. It shall include as far as practicable: one or two High Court judges; one or two advocates with at least 20 years of membership in the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA); one or two members nominated by the KHCAA, with membership of at least 10 years, one of whom shall be a woman; one woman member nominated by the Kerala Federation of Women Lawyers; one woman member nominated by the Kerala High Court Clerks' Association; at least one and at the most two outside members to be nominated by the Chief Justice, who are associated with the Department of Women and Child of Government of Kerala or non-government organization having experience in the field of social justice, women empowerment, and/or gender justice, out of whom at least one member shall be a woman;one woman officer in the service of the High Court not below the rank of Deputy Registrar to be nominated by the Chief Justice, who shall function as the Member Secretary of the GSICC; one woman officer not below the rank of Under Secretary in the service of the Advocate General's office nominated by the AG;any other member that the Chief Justice may deem fit to nominate.Functions of GSICCThe functions of the GSICC include:frame policy with regard to gender sensitisation and prevention and redressal of Sexual Harassment in the High Court and implement the same; take steps for gender sensitization and orientation;provide counselling and mediation to aggrieved women;complaint redressal.The GSICC shall have other duties and powers, which are provided under Regulations 16 and 15.Complaint An aggrieved woman or her legal heir or other person directly concerned with her interests may make a complaint in writing within 3 months of the date of the incident of sexual harassment or the date of the last incident if there were a series of incidents.Complaints involving minorsIf the complaints where the respondent is a minor, the GSICC shall forward the complaint to the...

Kerala High Court Brings Regulations To Curb Sexual Harassment Of Women At High Court

K. Salma Jennath

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