Skip to main content

‘Delightful’ word may be sexually coloured, says SC

"Every day is a matter of learning," said the Supreme Court realizing and learning from a male advocate's remark that he found it 'delightful' to be repeatedly interrupted during his arguments by a woman lawyer.

This realization dawned on the court during the hearing of a petition filed by a former Gwalior additional district Judge, who had challenged the in-house inquiry committee set by the Madhya Pradesh high court Chief Justice to probe
her sexual harassment complaint against a sitting HC Judge.

The sequence of events unfolded like this. When the counsel for the HC was advancing his arguments, the counsel for the petitioner interjected repeatedly to express her views.

When the bench told the HC counsel to go on with his arguments unmindful of the repeated interjections, the counsel in a lighter vein remarked: "The interjections by the senior counsel for the petitioner are always delightful." 

The petitioner's counsel immediately took serious objection to the term 'delightful" used with reference to her. She questioned the use of the term by asking the HC counsel whether similar interjections by men were also considered by him as 'delightful'. If not, then why her interjections were found delightful, she asked and went on to describe the HC counsel's observations as 'sexually coloured'. 

The bench considered the lighter vein comment and the serious objections raised against it by the petitioner's counsel and came to the conclusion that "she may well be right". 

"There is a lot to learn from what she innocuously conveyed. Her sensitivity to the issue, one may confess, brought out to us, a wholly different understanding of the subject. It is, therefore, that we have remarked above, that the evaluation of a charge of sexual harassment would depend on the manner in which it is perceived," said a bench of Justices J S Khehar and Arun Mishra. 

"Each case will have to be decided on its own merits. Whether the perception of the harassed individual was conveyed to the person accused would be very material in a case falling in the realm of over-sensitivity," the bench said. 

"In that, it would not be open to him thereafter, to defend himself by projecting that he had not sexually harassed the person concerned, because his understanding of the alleged action was unoffending," the bench warned. 

Justice Khehar, writing the judgment for the bench, said: "The issue of sexual harassment has a variety of fine connotations. Its evaluation may sometimes depend upon the sensitivity of the person concerned. And also whether, the perception of the harassed individual was known to the one against whom the accusing finger is pointed."

Article referred: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Delightful-word-may-be-sexually-coloured-says-SC/articleshow/45568351.cms

Comments

Post a Comment

Most viewed this month

Partition proceedings are vitiated even if single co-sharer is not made party or is not served in accordance with law

Cause Title :  Bhagwant Singh vs  Financial Commissioner (Appeals) Punjab, Chandigarh,  CWP-2132-2018 (O&M), High Court Of Punjab & Haryana At Chandigarh Date of Judgment/Order : 31.08.2022 Corum : Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sudhir Mittal Background A large parcel of land was owned by the Nagar Panchayat. Thereafter, some of the co-sharers sold their shares to third parties including the petitioners herein. On 22.11.1995, respondents No.3 to 5 filed an application for partition of the land. The petitioners were not impleaded as parties.  On completion of proceedings, sanad was issued on 28.08.1996. Vide two separate sale deeds dated 28.05.2008 respondents No.3 and 5 sold some portion in favour of respondent No.6 and 7. These respondents sought implementation of the sanad resulting in issuance of warrants of possession dated 05.06.2008. Allegedly, it was then that the petitioners realized that joint land had been partitioned and that proceedings h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Power of Attorney holder can also file cheque bounce cases: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that a criminal complaint in a cheque bounce case can be filed and pursued by a person who holds a power of attorney (PoA) on behalf of the complainant. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam gave the "authoritative" pronouncement on the issue, referred to it by a division bench in view of conflicting judgements of some high courts and the apex court. "We are of the view that the power of attorney holder may be allowed to file, appear and depose for the purpose of issue of process for the offence punishable under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (which deals with cheque bounce cases)," the bench, also comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Ranjan Gogoi, said. The bench, in its judgement, said, "...we clarify the position and answer the questions in the following manner: "Filing of complaint petition under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act through PoA holder is perfectly legal...
1 comment
Read more

Christian who reconverts as Hindu SC will get quota benefits

Amid the controversy over “ghar wapsi”, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a person who “reconverts” from Christianity to Hinduism shall be entitled to reservation benefits if his forefathers belonged to a Scheduled Caste and the community accepts him after “reconversion”. Citing articles by B R Ambedkar and James Massey, and reports by Mandal Commission and Chinappa Commission, the court said: “There has been detailed study to indicate the Scheduled Caste persons belonging to Hindu religion, who had embraced Christianity with some kind of hope or aspiration, have remained socially, educationally and economically backward.” The bench of Justices Dipak Misra and V Gopala Gowda held that a person shall not be deprived of reservation benefits if he decides to “reconvert” to Hinduism and adopts the caste that his forefathers originally belonged to just because he was born to Christian parents or has a Christian spouse. Expanding the scope of a previous Constitution benc...
1 comment
Read more