Indian female lawyers now shout ‘sexual harassment’

Close on the heels of the storm over a law intern being sexually harassed by a retired judge of the Indian Supreme Court, a group of women lawyers have sparked off a fresh round of controversy by alleging sexual harassment at the hands of male colleagues within the court premises at the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, one of the oldest and most prestigious courts of India.
The women lawyers have filed a petition in the high court alleging frequent and repeated sexual harassment by some male counterparts on the court premises. The court has admitted the petition and constituted a committee, as per Vishaka guidelines, to redress their grievances.
“Male lawyers, including senior ones, often stare at lady lawyers with bad intentions and pass sarcastic and vulgar remarks against them. They also misbehave with them, even getting physical at times,” one of the lawyers Ranjana Agnihotri told reporters.
“It is felt that even in courtrooms, some male lawyers who sit beside the female lawyers, deliberately try to touch them,” the female lawyers have stated in their petition.
Junior women lawyers said some lawyers compelled them to see vulgar pictures and videos on their mobiles in situations where they were not in a position to oppose them. The condition of junior women lawyers in civil courts and other subordinate courts is even more pitiable,” the petition said.
The division bench comprising justices Devi Prasad Singh and Ashok Pal Singh, which heard the matter, directed its registrar to preside over a panel. It would include five members of the elder committee of the Oudh Bar Association.