A workshop on prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment of women at workplace was organized at Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Center (BMHRC). Senior IPS officer and DIG (Rural) Monica Shukla was the chief guest and Dr. Manisha Srivastava, Director In-charge, BMHRC, was the guest of the honor of the workshop.

BMHRC officials,  employees and students of Nursing & Paramedical College  of BMHRC attended the workshop.Addressing the workshop, Mrs. Shukla said that apart from the unwelcome acts such as physical contact and sexual advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature also comes under the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act, 2013.

For this reason, many a times men don’t know that any of their actions may come under the POSH Act. For example, if a male officer is doing something in front of a female employee with which she is not comfortable, then this can also come under the purview of the POSH act. Men must remain conscious of this fact. In such a situation, women should also make their stand clear in the first instance itself, so that men do not commit such acts in future.

Shukla gave detailed presentation about the POSH act to the audience present at the workshop and said that this law is applied everywhere in the organized and unorganized sector. It is a myth that this law applies only to permanent employees. Truth is is that women of all ages and women working at home also come under the purview of this law. Every office has an internal complaints committee.

Any victim can lodge a complaint to the committee. She said that sometimes it happens that if the victim does not want to complain to the internal committee of her office, she can also go to the police station and lodge her complaint. While Addressing the people present at the workshop, Dr Manisha Shrivastava, Director In-charge, BMHRC said that it's important for women as well as men to know how to behave with their female colleagues at the workplace. Male employees should behave decently with every female employee. <

She informed that even in BMHRC, an Internal Complaint Committee already exists under the POSH Act, 2013. Any aggrieved woman in an unpleasant situation can lodge a complaint in this committee. She said that through such workshops, employees become aware of the sensitive topic of sexual harassment at the workplace. We are planning to organize more such workshops in future.