Sexual harassment at workplace: Bombay HC bars disclosure of names, media reporting of cases

The Bombay High Court has laid down detailed guidelines for courts, their registries, and media to protect the identities of parties involved in the Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act cases.

Mumbai: Bombay High Court issued guidelines for cases related to sexual harassment at the workplace under which names of the parties will not be mentioned in the order sheets. Justice GS Patel passed an order to protect the interest of both accused and victim parties in cases of sexual harassment at the workplace.

Justice Patel in his order said that "In the order sheets, the names of the parties will not be mentioned. The orders will read `A vs B`, `P vs D` etc. In the body of the order, the parties will not be referred to by their names but only as to Plaintiff, Defendant No 1 etc. In the body of any order, there will be no mention of any personally identifiable information (PII) such as email ids, mobile or telephone numbers, addresses etc. No witness`s names will be mentioned, nor will their addresses be noted. Orders/judgments on merits will not be uploaded."

Talking about the current order, the court said that, "Because this order sets out general guidelines and does not address the merits, it is permitted to be uploaded.