In Sexual Harassment Cases, Courts Shouldn't Get Swayed By 'Hyper Technicalities; Must Consider Broader Context : Supreme Court

In a case pertaining to sexual harassment at workplace, the Supreme Court held that courts should not get swayed by insignificant discrepancies and hyper-technicalities and assess the impact of any procedural violation against the overall fairness of the inquiry. The judgement pronounced by a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra held that allegations of sexual harassment or offences of such nature should be considered within the broader context of the case and should not be judged merely on the basis of a procedural violation. Facts of the CaseIn this case, a complaint of sexual harassment was filed by a female employee against the respondent. The complaint was initially submitted to the Inspector General (IG) and subsequently forwarded to several authorities, including the DG SSB, New Delhi, Dy. IG, SSB, SHQ, Tezpur, and the Chairperson of the National Women Rights Commission, New Delhi. The first complaint was filed on August 30, 201. On September 18 2012, the complainant also submitted a second complaint containing additional allegations against the respondent.Two initial inquiries, a fact-finding inquiry and a Frontier Complaints Committee inquiry, failed to substantiate the allegations. Subsequently, the Ministry of Home Affairs constituted the Central Complaints Committee to investigate the matter. The Central Complaints Committee had to be constituted in view of Clause 9 of the 2006 Standing Order. Clause 9 of the 2006 Standing Order envisages two levels of complaints committee; (i) a Frontier Complaints Committee for the “combatised and in-field officers” (ii) a Central Complaints Committee for the “non-combatised officers”. Since at the time of lodging of the complaint, the respondent was serving as a non-combatised officer, the Central Complaints Committee was formed. While the Central Complaints Committee's Inquiry was still pending, the Ministry of Home Affairs annulled the Frontier Level Complaints Committee's Inquiry Report on the ground that the Chairperson of the said Frontier Level Complaints Committee was of an equivalent rank as that of the respondent. The Central Complaints Committee found the respondent guilty of sexual harassment.The respondent argued that the allegations were false and claimed that they were made because he had rejected the transfer application of the complainant. As a result, he approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) seeking the cancellation of the Central Complaints Committee's inquiry. However, CAT refrained from expressing an opinion on the matter, as the disciplinary proceedings were still pending. The case then moved to the High Court, which ruled that the Central Complaints Committee had overstepped its jurisdiction by considering the second complaint and had taken on a prosecutorial role during the inquiry. The High Court stated that the jurisdiction of the Central Complaints Committee was limited to the first complaint filed by the complainant and it should not have considered the allegations made in the second complaint. The High Court also found that the committee's findings were based on surmises and conjectures, characterizing the case as "No Evidence."Against this order, the Supreme Court was approached. Findings By The Supreme Court1. Courts Should Not Get Swayed By Discrepancies and Hyper TechnicalitiesIn its order, Supreme Court ultimately held that the High Court's judgment was incorrect, and the Central Complaints Committee had not exceeded its jurisdiction by considering the second complaint. The High Court's decision was set aside, and the order of punishment imposed by the disciplinary authority was upheld.At the outset, the Supreme Court underlined the gravity of addressing workplace sexual harassment, emphasizing that offenders should not evade legal consequences. The court noted that failure to hold harassers accountable could be distressing for victims, particularly when the wrongdoer faced minimal penalties or remains unpunished. However, the court also recognized the challenge in verifying such allegations, stating that such allegations were easy to make but difficult to disprove. Thus, the court stated that when someone claimed false implication for ulterior motives, the court had a duty to thoroughly examine the evidence and determine the credibility of the accusations.The Court underlined the importance of not being swayed by insignificant discrepancies or hyper-technicalities when reviewing such cases. It stressed that allegations of this nature should be considered within the broader context of the entire case. The Court also cautioned against showing undue sympathy or leniency towards the individual accused of misconduct.Regarding the consideration of additional or second complaints, the Court highlighted that this issue is a separate matter to be evaluated based on whether it was filed promptly and not mischievously at a later stage to cause prejudice to the accused. In the...

In Sexual Harassment Cases, Courts Shouldn't Get Swayed By 'Hyper Technicalities; Must Consider Broader Context : Supreme Court

Padmakshi Sharma

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