MYSORE: A committee will be set up to suggest guidelines to prevent sexual harassment of women at work places, Karnataka State Women’s Commission chairperson Manjula Manasa said.
She was in the city on Saturday to visit the Central Prison to learn about the conditions of women prisoners. Manasa said there are numerous complaints about women misusing the Sexual Harassment Act 2013 against their colleagues.
“In view of this, a committee will be constituted to suggest specific guidelines on what kind of complaints should be probed by the panel constituted under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act,” she said. She said the committee will be constituted in consultation with Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister T B Jayachandra. The only possible way to protect women from harassment and rape is to initiate strict action against the offenders, she added.
Taking the note of the women inmates booked under Dowry Act, she expressed concern over the “misuse” of pro-women legislation.During her visit to the jail, some of the inmates requested her to offer them legal aid. “There is a shortage of space for women inmates in the prison where 69 inmates are housed with six children. I will urge the government to make the prison more spacious with necessary infrastructure,” she said.