Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday asked all District Magistrates and Administrative Secretaries to set-up internal complaints committees to look into and prevent sexual harassment of women at workplaces. The instructions, though already circulated by the Government, but observed in breach alone, after a sexual assault case came to fore in an Indian System of Medicines hospital in Srinagar outskirts.
An official spokesman said that the Chief Minister took a serious view over non-implementation of the earlier instructions on setting up these committees in Government offices.
Sources said that a lady employee working at Kashmir Tibbya College complained that superintendent of the hospital harassed her. The lady working on temporary status was seeking permanent job and that required the officer’s formal consent.
Chairperson of State Commission for Women Nayeema Mehjoor took cognizance of the reports about sexual harassment of employees at the said hospital. On Tuesday Mehjoor visited the hospital and talked to female staff. She later asked the employees to confide the details to her privately.
Sources said that the officer is not working at his actual place of posting and a number of female staff have also been attached with the same hospital in contravention with the set procedures.
The Jammu & Kashmir Government has passed sexual harassment of women at workplaces (prevention, prohibition and redressal) Act in 2013. The act makes it mandatory to the heads of departments to set-up mechanism for prevention and redressal of complaints of harassment at workplaces.
The spokesman said that a circular issued by the Social Welfare Department that oversees the implementation of the act States that in case of pendency after one month, strict administrative action shall be recommended against the concerned officer.
This is the third sexual assault case that surfaced in the embattled State. On Monday, a minor girl of Handwara in North Kashmir alleged that she was molested by a soldier near a washroom on April 12 but was subsequently harassed by police in custody and forced to make a statement to put the blame on local boys and exonerate the soldier. The incident led to killing of five persons including a woman in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district and a string of protests in entire Kashmir valley.
In another incident, police arrested a Sub-Inspector after a woman alleged that he raped her inside the police station. The accused cop Mohammad Iqbal who was Station House Officer of Khour police station in Akhnoor area of Jammu had reportedly raped a woman lodged in the police station. The woman was a rape victim.