The Centre has, for the first time, set up a mechanism to probe allegations of sexual harassment against senior government officers of the ranks of secretary and additional secretary.
Panel to probe sexual harassment cases against bureaucrats
NEW DELHI: The Centre has, for the first time, set up a mechanism to probe allegations of sexual harassment against senior government officers of the ranks of secretary and additional secretary.
The decision follows the self-immolation bid outside the prime minister’s office (PMO) by Neera Bhatia, a Research and Analysis Wing officer in the cabinet secretariat, in August.
Bhatia took the dramatic step in desperation after her complaints about the behaviour of her seniors were repeatedly ignored.
A PMO report said the Bhatia episode revealed a glaring lacuna in government departments. All of them are required by law to have committees to probe sexual harassment complaints, but senior officers of the rank of additional secretary and above do not come under their purview.
The new committee changes this. Retired IAS officer Rathi Vinay Jha will head the three-member committee, which will have a three-year tenure. Its other member is Indu Agnihotri of the Centre for Women Development Studies. The third member will be drawn from the department against which there is a complaint.
The committee will probe complaints against officers in ministries and public sector undertakings. Its first task will be to look into the Bhatia case, for which the cabinet secretariat is preparing the papers as the coordinating agency.
However, the committee’s mandate is only to probe complaints and submit a report to the minister concerned.
a_jerath@dnaindia.net
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