Court says even government publications cannot disclose sexual-harassment survivor’s identity; seeks names of officials responsible
New Delhi, September 8: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Centre for publishing and circulating the identity of a woman who was allegedly sexually harassed at her workplace in an official handbook on the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) law.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma questioned how the survivor’s name could have appeared in a handbook issued by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, stressing that the law prohibits disclosure of the identity of victims of sexual offences.
The court directed the Centre’s counsel to return on Wednesday with details of the officials responsible for the content. The judge also made it clear that the survivor’s identity could not be disclosed even if the underlying dispute had subsequently been settled.
The court was hearing a petition filed by the alleged perpetrator, who sought removal of his name from the handbook on the ground that the matter had been settled between the parties.
According to the petitioner’s counsel, an order passed by a labour tribunal in connection with the alleged workplace harassment was reproduced in the ministry’s POSH handbook as an illustrative case. While doing so, the handbook allegedly disclosed both the petitioner’s identity and the woman’s name.
The counsel told the court that the handbook had been widely circulated and remained available across the internet.
The Centre’s lawyer submitted that the handbook was published in November 2015 for educational purposes and that the parties had reached a settlement only recently.
Justice Sharma, however, questioned the need to identify the survivor in an educational document. The court noted that even judicial orders generally use anonymised references such as “X” when dealing with sexual-offence victims.
The judge also pointed to existing Supreme Court and High Court directions protecting the identity of survivors, observing that disclosure is prohibited and can attract penal consequences.
The matter will be heard again on Wednesday,9th of September.
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