The government is considering tightening sexual harassment laws, officials said today, after an avalanche of complaints of abuse lodged by women in recent weeks thrust the issue to the forefront of politics. Changes to the laws are being considered as the government weighs different proposals to tackle harassment, one of the officials said.
"The official announcement could come next week," said the official, who works in the prime minister's office.
The officials declined to give any details about possible changes.
The government focus on the law has come after women's rights groups complained that the existing laws do not go far enough to address the widespread problem of sexual harassment.
Junior foreign minister MJ Akbar resigned on Wednesday after he faced #MeToo accusations from more than a dozen women. The allegations related to when Mr Akbar was a top newspaper editor. Mr Akbar has denied wrongdoing and said he was stepping down so that he could fight the allegations in court.
A Delhi court began proceedings today in a defamation suit filed by Mr Akbar against journalist Priya Ramani, the first of over a dozen women who levelled accusations against him. The next hearing will be on October 31.
The previous government passed a workplace harassment act and an act to amend criminal law in 2013. The latter made sexual harassment, stalking and voyeurism crimes.
But women's groups say a requirement that accusations be made to a workplace complaints committee within three months is unfair as some women cannot quickly muster the courage to take that step.
The government should review certain provisions of the sexual harassment prevention law, said Rebecca John, a lawyer who is defending Ms Ramani in Mr Akbar's defamation suit.
"The provision of filing a complaint within three months should be made more flexible," she said.
In the case of many of the recent complaints against journalists, actors and other public figures, many of which were made under the #MeToo hashtag on social media, the accusations related to incidents that happened years ago.
Women's groups also say that the law doesn't make clear who in a workplace is in charge of ensuring compliance and is therefore responsible if its provisions are not followed.
The workplace law also only requires an organisation employing more than 10 people to set up an internal complaints committee to hear and redress sexual harassment grievances, but critics say many companies don't do that.
