Recently Sports federation governance is in news for wrong reasons. The Indian wrestling arena has been rocked by allegations of sexual harassment against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president. Haryana Sports and Youth is also facing a complaint of sexual harassment levelled by a women’s athletics coach or the IPL match-fixing scam case.
These incidents, which sometimes never been in news due to varied reasons, shows how money, opportunity, and gender power imbalance determine the coach-sportsperson relationship – with the former acting without impunity and the latter forced into silence for years.
Under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, every organisation is to set up an Internal ComplaintS Committee (ICC) to look into allegations, if any
Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) assistant secretary Vinod Tomar confirmed to The Quint news respondent that till date, no ICC has been formed within the organisation to look into complaints of sexual the spotlight on sports federations being run by politicians and bureaucrats as against sports professionals. harassment.
Allegations of nepotism, fiefdom, unaccountability and financial irregularities ail sports governance in India. Scarce public investible resources have eluded sports in India. This is further compounded by misallocation, lack of transparency, poor asset management, and an absence of a framework for measuring the impact of public spending.
The governing body should be a combination of bureaucrats and sports professionals.
Indian sports bodies should have the mandate that any office-bearer must have had a minimum of 10 years of direct involvement with the sport – either as a player, coach or administrator – to qualify as an office-bearer at an All India level.
Indian Sports Associations must encourage professionals to take on key roles, and not leave it open to honorary positions. That way accountability will be tied to performance and not able to garner support from local sports bodies.
Work is needed from the bottom of the pyramid — to reconstitute district and state bodies that feed into the national sports governance pyramid. The focus of reform efforts must be on training sports governors and administrators, both athletes and non-athletes. Every district, state and national sports body must have athlete commissions and athlete representation of such bodies embedded in decision-making in reasonable numbers.
In 2011 the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, notified the National Sports Development Code of India 2011. This code superseded all notifications and instructions by the Government of India pertaining to good governance of the National Sports Federations. What is not certain is whether the National Sports Federations comply with the conditions of the code.
LEARNING FROM HOME/ WITHOUT CLASSES/ BASICS
Laws Related To Protection Of Women Against Sexual Harassment And
Stalking
Women are protected under Section 354 for sexual harassment and Section 509 IPC for using words or gestures to insult the modesty of a woman.Under Section 354 of the IPC, whoever assaults a woman knowing that it would outrage her modesty is liable to be punished under the law. The essence of a woman’s modesty is her sex. The ultimate test to be seen if a woman’s modesty is outraged is to see if the act or assault would amount to shocking the sense of decency of a woman.
In Rupan Deol Bajaj v. Kanwar Pal Singh Gill (1995) case, the Supreme Court unambiguously directed the Magistrate to take cognizance of the complaint under Section 354 read with Section 509.
The landmark judgement Vishaka v State of Rajasthan (1997) discussing Sexual Harassment at the Workplace law, was also a big step to recognize women being targets of sexual harassment in various forms.
After the multitude of offences against women and the increasing violence, in 2013, the Criminal Law Amendment Act was introduced through the Justice Verma Committee. Stalking, both online and offline, was recognized as an offence under Section 354D. The Amendment Act of 2013 also brought changes including the offences of Sexual harassment, voyeurism, Trafficking etc. bringing in stringent punishments for these offences.
Stalking is a form of harassment comprising of repeated and
persistent following with the intention of harming or causing fear to the person being followed. It can be in various forms- physical or online
and under the law only a man can stalk a woman. This means that, the law is not gender neutral and the recourse is only for the woman.
The 2013 Criminal Amendment Act to the Indian Penal Code, 1860 by way of
Section 354A to Section 354D.
354A: A man committing any of the following acts – a demand or request for sexual favours; or showing pornography against the will of a woman; or making sexually coloured remarks, shall be guilty of the offence of sexual harassment, may be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. In case of the first two and with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.
Section 354C defines ‘Voyeurism’ as including the act
of capturing the image of a woman engaging in a private act, and/or
disseminating said image, without her consent.. A person convicted
under this section is liable to be punished with fine as well as imprisonment up to three years on first conviction and seven years on subsequent convictions. Section 354D introduced a provision for stalking which also covers
cyber stalking. Stalking has been defined to mean an act where a man
follows or contacts a woman, despite clear indication of disinterest to such
contact by the woman or monitors the cyber activity or use of the Internet or electronic communication of a woman. A man committing the offence of stalking would be liable for imprisonment up to three years for the first offence and shall also be liable to fine and for any subsequent conviction would be liable for imprisonment up to five years and with fine.
The Information Technology Act, 2000 was the next step to check
offences in the cyberspace. Chapter IX of the Act deals with the offences
including identity theft, impersonation, sending obscene material etc. What the IT Act sought to do was to address the consequences of online stalking. For example, in a scenario, where multiple accounts are created to stalk a person online, the IT Act tackles this provision and terms it to be an offence of Impersonation under Section 66D. Here a person is assuming a fake identity with an intention to deceive another or cheats by using a computer or a communication device.
In another scenario where a person is stalking a person online and sexually
harasses someone by sending obscene pictures, like in the case of Utsav
Chakraborty, then, it becomes an offence under Section 67, for transmitting material which is obscene in nature and in a scenario where the content is sexually explicit material then it is an offence under Section 67 A for transmitting material containing sexually explicit acts.
Indecent Representation Of Women (Prohibition) Bill, 2012
The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act regulates and
prohibits the indecent representation of women through the media of
advertisements, publications etc. The Indecent Representation of Women
(Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2012 seeks to broaden the scope of the law to
cover the audio-visual media and content in electronic form, and distribution of material will also include distribution on the Internet and the portrayal of women over the web.
THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT OF WOMEN AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION AND REDRESSAL) ACT, 2013(POSH ACT)In Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan (1997)4 , the Supreme Court of India created legally binding guidelines basing it on the right to equality and dignity accorded under the Indian Constitution as well as by the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
POSH ACT
All workplaces in India are mandated by law to provide a safe and secure working environment free from sexual harassment for all women. “No woman shall be subjected to sexual harassment at any workplace.” ; through compliance with the three elements: Prohibition ,Prevention and Redress
The Posh Act recognizes the right of every woman to a safe and secure
workplace environment irrespective of her age or employment/work status;
whether in the capacity of regular, temporary, adhoc, or daily wages basis is protected under the Act. The Act also covers a woman, who is working in a dwelling place or house.
The POSH Act applies to both the organized and unorganized sectors in India. It inter alia, applies to government bodies, private and public sector organizations, non-governmental organizations, organizations carrying out commercial, vocational, educational, entertainment, industrial, financial activities, hospitals and nursing homes, educational institutes, sports institutions and stadiums used for training individuals and also applies to a dwelling place or a house.
Sexual Harassment” includes anyone or more of the following unwelcome acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication), namely: 1. Physical contact or advances; 2. A demand or request for sexual favours; 3. Making sexually coloured remarks; 4. Showing pornography; 5. Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature
The Act provides a civil remedy to women and is in addition to other laws that are currently in force.
The Act provides for two kinds of complaints mechanisms: Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and Local Complaints Committee (LCC). All Complaints Committees must have 50 per cent representation of women. ICC or LCC members will hold their position not exceeding three years from the date of their nomination or appointment.
Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) Every employer is obliged to constitute an ICC through a written order. The ICC will be composed of the following members:
2) Local Complaints Committee (LCC) The District Officer will constitute an LCC in every district so as to enable women in the unorganised sector or small establishments to work in an environment free of sexual harassment. The LCC will receive complaints: 1. From women working in an organisation having less than 10 workers; 2. When the complaint is against the employer himself; 3. From domestic workers.
The POSH Act stipulates that the IC and LC shall, while inquiring into a complaint of workplace sexual harassment, have the same powers as vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 when trying a suit in respect of: i. summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; ii. requiring the discovery and production of documents; and iii. any other matter which may be prescribed.
1.2)
Local Complaints Committee (LCC) The District Officer will
constitute an LCC in every district so as to enable women in the unorganised sector or small establishments to work in an environment free of sexual harassment. The LCC will receive complaints: 1. From women working in an organisation having less than 10 workers; 2. When the complaint is against the employer himself; 3. From domestic workers.
2.The POSH Act stipulates that the IC and LC shall, while inquiring into a complaint of workplace sexual harassment, have the same
powers as vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 when trying a suit in respect of: i. summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath; ii. requiring the discovery and production of documents; and iii. any other matter which may be prescribed.
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