A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has directed the State government to formulate guidelines in four months for anonymising details of complainants from public domain during inquiry proceedings initiated under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) (POSH) Act, 2013.
The Bench comprising Justice A. Muhamed Mustaq and Justice P. Krishnakumar passed the directive recently while disposing of a petition filed by Thomas Antony, a Tourism department official, challenging the order of the Kerala Administrative Tribunal dismissing his plea for quashing the proceedings initiated on a complaint by a woman staff.
‘Right to privacy’
The court said there was no mechanism at present to anonymise the complainant in the various proceedings related to the inquiry. When the right to privacy is recognised as an important facet of the fundamental rights of a person, it should be ensured that the whereabouts of a complainant who raises charges of sexual harassment or other atrocities are anonymised. That said, this should be done in such a manner not prejudicial to the rights of the employee against whom the complaint is made.
The court also directed the Directorate of Tourism to complete the entire proceedings against the petitioner in three months in view of the undue delay that occurred in this matter.
Published – March 21, 2025 07:24 pm IST