KARACHI:
It is learnt that the Supreme Court has dismissed the case of harassment made by a female PTV employee against her male colleagues, simply because the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010 restricts the definition of harassment. Under the act, protection can only be offered if the harassment is sexual in nature. The judgement ordered by Justice Mushir Alam stated, “Any other interpretation advanced by this Court to enlarge the scope of the charging section will violate the rights guaranteed under Article 12 of Constitution.”
It is because of such nuances and loopholes that perpetrators have long been able to escape the clutches of the law. Therefore, justice and protection are not provided and in many cases the perpetrator continues to harass the victim, even going as far as forcing them to stay silent. While it can be accepted that the judiciary needs to follow the law mentioned on paper, it the job of the politicians to fill in any loopholes that remain, through addendums. Victims, politicians, lawyers and civil society members need to seriously sit down and chart out a holistic framework that properly defines the terms of harassment and its circumstances for legal reasons. It is about time that we started protecting the women of our country by criminalising all act of harassment.
Raheem Khan
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2021.
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