HC rejects doctor’s plea for fresh probe into her charge of sexual harassment by her boss
Srinagar: In a sexual harassment allegation by a lady doctor against her boss, which couldn’t be established by an enquiry committee of which she herself was also a member, the High Court today rejected her petition to re-constitute the Complaints Committee to hold a de novo enquiry.
The bench of Justice Sanjay Dhar while rejecting the petition of the lady doctor of the Directorate of Health Service Kashmir said “it is clear that the petitioner has acquiesce in the constitution of the Complaints Committee by her conduct and has fully participated in the enquiry proceedings”.
“She cannot be heard to question the constitution of the Complaints Committee at this stage when the result of the enquiry has gone against her, particularly when the enquiry proceedings have been conducted after observing the principles of natural justice and the findings of the Committee are based upon the material produced before it,” Justice Dhar said.
The observation was made in the petition of the female doctor who challenged the constitution of Committee, formed to inquire into allegations made by her against her boss, under Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.
She had also sought a direction commanding the authorities to re-constitute the Complaints Committee to hold a de-novo enquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment allegedly at the hands of the officer.
“From the enunciation of law on the subject, it is clear that a person who participates in the enquiry proceedings or selection without any demur and later on challenges the constitution of the enquiry committee or the selection committee, as the case may be, after finding that the result of the enquiry/selection has gone against him, is not entitled to do so,” the court said.
It said that is clear that she has acquiesced in the constitution of the Complaints Committee by her conduct and has fully participated in the enquiry proceedings.
It observed that there is not even a whisper made in the petition that she had felt uncomfortable in participating in the proceedings or she had raised any objection with regard to the constitution of the Committee.
Briefly stated, the case of the petitioner is that on 13.12.2019, she received a phone call from respondent No.4, the then Director Health Services, Kashmir.
The said respondent communicated highly objectionable sexual innuendos to the petitioner in an inebriated state, she alleged, adding the behavior of the director was highly distasteful and unwelcome. At the relevant time, the petitioner was working as Consultant MCH in the Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir.
It is alleged that after the aforesaid incident, the respondent director continued to harass the petitioner in one way or the other. In 2019 the director withdrew the charge of the National Tobacco Control Programme from the petitioner and created an atmosphere of intimidation and hostility for the petitioner, reads the petition.
Then her official vehicle was also withdrawn and later she was not allowed to proceed to Delhi to attend NPCC meeting, it said, adding that she was harassed on numerous occasions by the respondent director un-necessarily for one reason or the other.
Another incident which has been narrated by the petitioner relates to 23rd January, 2021, when she was allegedly made to wait in the lobby of SKICC just to humiliate her.
It further alleged that the petitioner applied for Surveillance Medical Officer in the World Health Organization and later on for the post of Registrar/Demonstrator in Government Medical College, Srinagar, but on both occasions, the respondent director did not relieve the petitioner in order to further humiliate and harass her.
