HC pulls up Centre for revealing sexual abuse victim’s identity

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the central government for disclosing the identity of a survivor of sexual harassment at her workplace in a POSH handbook published by the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma emphasised that even the Centre has to follow the law, which prohibits revealing the identity of the survivor of a sexual offence and makes it a punishable offence.

“How is the name of the victim disclosed in this? How can you do that? You are the government of India. You yourself are publishing (handbooks) revealing the name of the victim and you are circulating it. It is on your official website,” Justice Sharma said.

Listing the matter for next hearing on Wednesday, Justice Sharma asked the central government lawyer to come back with the names of officials “responsible for this content”.

The court was hearing a petition by the alleged perpetrator, who submitted that the matter has since been settled and therefore, sought directions for removal of his name from the handbook.

The petitioner’s counsel submitted that a labour tribunal order arising from the alleged incident has been included in the ministry’s POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) handbook as an anecdote, revealing the details of not only his identity but the woman’s name as well. The handbook is “everywhere and anywhere” on the internet, the lawyer added. The Centre’s counsel submitted that the handbook was published in November 2015 for educational purposes and the parties have settled the matter only recently.