Daily Times

Azra Fazal Pechuho, the Provincial Health Minister and the sister of the former president Asif Ali Zardari, issued a statement in support of the alleged harasser Professor Amir Ali Khattak of the shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, who has been accused by Farzana Jamali a last year student. Azra’s statement received a lot of criticism.  She while talking to the media claimed that the student who accused her teacher of sexual harassment is a ‘liar’. Her remarks before the conclusion of probe, conducted by the committee severely offended the political leaders, social activists and the organisations working for the protection of women rights. “After Pechuho’s statement given in support of Khattak before the completion of the enquiry, we don’t expect an impartial investigation”, said Ayaz Latif Palijo Secretary General of GDA. Palijo asserted that only judicial investigation of the matter would be acceptable to all.  Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) MPA Haleem Adil Sheikh also condemned the statement of the Minister.

Ours is a patriarchal society where women are not given due respect and are often subjected to sexual harassment at workplaces and in public places. Besides physical harassment, catcalling, jeering and stalking women in public places has been adopted as a social norm by the male members of our society. Male chauvinists regard it as their prerogative to demean the womenfolk and thereby discourage them to work with them in a congenial environment. They deliberately create a hostile and offensive work environment for the women, so that they can compel them to surrender to their illicit demands.

There are several types of sexual harassment prevalent in our society. The most common among them is ‘men harassing women’. More than 80 percent of women are harassed by men at workplaces, homes, public transports, and educational institutions. The main reason for this is the vulnerability of the women and their helplessness. The women of our society are trained to keep quiet about this. Therefore, they hesitate to report incidents of harassment, fearing that society would not believe them and would indulge in victim blaming.

‘Men harassing men’ is also a form of harassment which is rampant in our society. Many men, especially young boys are subjected to unwanted sexual advances, offensive sexual comments, jokes from other men around them. Even young children are not safe fall victim to such activities.

Furthermore, another type though not that common is ‘women harassing women’.

It is an undeniable fact that sexual harassment is pervasive in all parts of our society, particularly in academia where female students are vulnerable to male teachers. The case of Farzana Jamli is one such example. Such cases are usually underreported because the victims feel that their reputation will suffer and the preparator of the crime will not be held accountable.

Male chauvinists regard it as their prerogative to demean the womenfolk and thereby discourage them to work with them in a congenial environment. They deliberately create a hostile and offensive work environment for women, so that they can compel them to surrender to their illicit demands

Moreover, most females are unaware of the laws pertaining to sexual harassment. They think that this is not a serious offence, and no action will be taken against the harasser. Hence, they don’t register the complaint against the perpetrator of the crime. This indifferent attitude of the victim the harassers to continue their activities without repercussions.

Therefore, it is extremely necessary to create awareness regarding legal remedies available to the victims of sexual harassment, and also for the general public to discourage this crime.

There are two legal provisions under which cases pertaining to sexual harassment are dealt. One is the protection of women against harassment in the workplace i.e. Act 2010, and the other is Pakistan penal code 1860.  However, most of the cases are decided under the ‘protection against harassment of women at workplace’, Act 2010.

Section 2(h) of the ‘protection against harassment of women at workplace Act 2010’, defines sexual harassment as “an unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favours, or verbal  or physical conduct of a sexual nature that interferes with work performance”. However, the given definition requires some refinement and should also include the sexual remarks, gazing, gossiping, forcibly showing or discussing pornography, voyeurism and stalking.

According to section 3 (2) of the said act, “every organisation has to constitute an inquiry committee to look into the complaints made against workplace harassment. The committee shall consist of three members of whom at least one member should be a woman”. This section too requires some amendment; the inquiry committee should include one member from the social sector other than the part of the organisation, who has some experience in dealing with instances or cases of harassment and sexual assault.

Furthermore, the act does not allow the accused or the complainant to be represented by lawyers that is unconstitutional, in my opinion. For the satisfaction of both, the accused and the complainants, they should be allowed to hire a legal practitioner to represent them.

With regards to punishment, the act says that if a person is found guilty of workplace harassment, the following penalties under section 4 of the act can be imposed. It includes some major and minor penalties i.e. censure, promotion or increment, recovery of the compensation payable to the complainant from pay, reduction to lower post or time-scale, compulsory retirement, removal from service, dismissal from service. However, regarding compensation, no criteria has been prescribed in the act.

In addition to this, section 11 of the act requires an employer to display and circulate a code of conduct on sexual harassment both in English and Urdu. But we hardly find any organisation complying with such instructions.

Moreover, we are living in a cyber world where crime can be committed through other means such as social media or via texting. In Pakistan, laws have given protection to women from cybercrime, yet the offence of sexual harassment is not clearly defined under the prevention of Electronic Crime act, 2016.

To conclude, laws do exist to prevent sexual harassment at workplaces and at public places. However, we need to generally educated the public about the options available to them. Women should be encouraged to speak up and supported so that this crime can be eradicated from society, and brave women like Farzana Jamali need to have their cases investigated without bias.

The writer is a lawyer based in Jafarabad, Balochistan

Published in Daily Times, September 14^th 2018.