SCBA sets up 5-member Committee to look into sexual harassment cases in Supreme Court

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has recently set up a Committee comprising of five members to look into complaints relating to sexual harassment of women lawyers in the Supreme Court. The Committee members include Senior Advocates Pinky Anand and Altaf Ahmad and Advocates Meera Bhatia, S. Kumud Lata Das and Sharbani Chakravarthy..The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has recently set up a Committee comprising of five members to look into complaints relating to sexual harassment of women lawyers in the Supreme Court. The Committee members include Senior Advocates Pinky Anand and Altaf Ahmad and Advocates Meera Bhatia, S. Kumud Lata Das and Sharbani Chakravarthy..The decision of the SCBA to set up a Committee comes in the light of the recent intervention application filed by Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija in the Supreme Court in the case of Amit Chanchal Jha v. Registrar, Delhi High Court, which is related to alleged physical violence against a female advocate in the Delhi High Court..Vibha has filed the application in a representative capacity on behalf of 63 women lawyers, concerned by the increasing incidents of harassment faced by women lawyers at workplace..One of the prayers in the application is to implead the women lawyers as a party in the case as the decision would have an impact on all women lawyers of the country. They have also prayed to the Supreme Court to set up committees to probe complaints of sexual harassment in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in Vishakha Case..The application stated, “As per the Vishakha case guidelines a committee headed by a woman with at least half of its members being women should be set up so that cases of harassment of women at court complexes can be addressed and resolved.”.It is submitted in the application that there is no forum in the Supreme Court or the Courts below, for women to address the issues of sexual harassment experienced by them frequently at the hands of their colleagues and persons in whose contact they come while discharging their duties as advocates. The applicants submitted that in these circumstances, it is necessary that this Court issues time bound directions for implementation of the guidelines already framed by this Court..Senior Advocate Pinky Anand, the Chairman of the Committee set up by SCBA, told Bar & Bench that the Committee has resolved that proceedings will be held in-camera and the identity of the complainant would not be disclosed and will be kept confidential. Pinky Anand also said that further details on the procedure and the functioning of the Committee will be decided shortly..Pravin Parekh, the President of SCBA, said, “The remedy to approach the Committee is not only restricted to the members of SCBA. The Committee will take cognizance even if one of the parties (either the complainant or the accused) is a member of the SCBA.”.Parekh further told Bar & Bench that the Executive Committee of the SCBA has also decided to file an intervention application in the case of Amit Chanchal Jha.