The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday urged the government to strengthen laws against harassment of women at the workplace.
During the hearing of a contempt case against Justice Mansoor Ali Shah filed by former federal ombudsperson for protection against harassment of women at workplace Yasmeen Abbasi, the apex court bench expressed concern over “whispers to weaken law against harassment”.
The former ombudsperson had issued a contempt notice to Justice Mansoor in 2016 after he had issued her arrest warrants following which the police forcefully entered her office to arrest her.
Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Kashmala Tariq appeared before the court on Wednesday and told the court that there were “zero complaints” of harassment from Sindh. Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed dismissed the claim, observing that absence of complaints did not mean the issue of workplace harassment did not exist in Sindh. “People feel reluctant to talk about this matter,” he remarked. “The problem is that you have not taken women into confidence,” he said.
Justice Saeed said that the authorities should develop a mechanism that would make it easier for women to lodge complaints and directed the attorney general and provincial governments to submit responses on the interpretation of the law against harassment at workplace.
He suggested that if provincial governments meant to amend the law, they should do so to strengthen it so that women can easily come forward and file complaints of incidents of harassment at workplaces. He also said that the attorney general and provincial advocate generals should provide legal assistance to the court by consulting international law. “We should be ashamed of ourselves if we can’t protect women from harassment,” he said.
The hearing was adjourned until the first week of March.