Legal awareness key to curb workplace harassment: Info Commissioner

Sudha Rani Relangi, Information Commissioner at the Central Information Commission, underscored the importance of legal awareness in addressing workplace harassment at a South Regional Law Review Consultation on the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act, 2013, held at Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University, Sabbavaram, on Tuesday.

The consultation, organised in collaboration with the National Commission for Women, was conducted in hybrid mode at the university’s seminar hall. It brought together members of the Commission, advocates from the Visakhapatnam Bar, and academicians from various National Law Universities.

Presiding over the programme, Vice-Chancellor D. Surya Prakasa Rao traced the evolution of women’s rights and the circumstances that led to the enactment of the POSH Act.

In her address, Ms. Relangi said awareness of the law enables individuals to prevent and effectively respond to workplace harassment. She referred to the Act’s grounding in international frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and its evolution within the Indian legal system.

Highlighting the lived realities of harassment, she noted that inappropriate remarks and conduct in professional spaces undermine dignity and mental well-being. The Act, she said, rests on three principles, prevention, prohibition and redressal, while also providing safeguards against misuse through due process.

The consultation featured technical sessions on substantive provisions, institutional mechanisms, procedural safeguards, implementation challenges and emerging issues under the Act. Legal experts and faculty members from Andhra University, GITAM and DSNLU participated.

Ms. Relangi called for a broader and contemporary understanding of harassment, advocated consideration of gender-neutral provisions, and stressed the need for zero tolerance towards such misconduct.

Among those present were Prof. V. Rajya Lakshmi, Prof. R. Anitha Rao, Prof. N. Chandrakala and Dr. Rifath Khan. Programme coordinators Bhagyalakashmi, D. Sherley Hepsiba and students also attended.