The Kerala High Court on Friday directed the state government to formulate guidelines to ensure the privacy of victims from the public domain during the enquiry proceedings under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, (POSH Act).

The court also stated that there is no provision under the POSH Act to anonymise the complainant's details during the inquiry proceedings. Referring to a 2021 Bombay High Court order that issued guidelines to protect the privacy of victims, the court suggested that the Kerala government could also consider them as a reference.

"At present, there is no mechanism to anonymise the complainant, who alleges that she faced sexual harassment or other atrocities as envisaged by the POSH Act, in the various proceedings related to the enquiry. When the right to privacy is recognized as one of the important facets of the fundamental rights of a person, a complainant who raises such a grievance is also entitled to ensure that her whereabouts are anonymised from the public domain," the court said. 

The division bench of Justice A Muhamed Mustaque and Justice P Krishna Kumar issued the order while considering the petition filed by an employee at the District Tourism Office. A complaint was filed by his female co-worker alleging that she was harassed in various ways. During the enquiry proceedings, a show cause notice was issued proposing to lower his rank in the department.

He challenged the enquiry proceedings stating that he was not even given an opportunity to cross examine the complainant during her examination. He also said that enquiry proceedings must be carried as per the procedure given in the service rules applicable to him.

The court said that the enquiry under the POSH Act is in the nature of a disciplinary enquiry. It further stated that procedure under the Kerala Civil Services Rules or such other departmental rules applicable to the employee must be followed during enquiry proceedings.

(With inputs from LiveLaw)