Sexual harassment cases worry IWPC

New Delhi: The Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) on Monday called upon media houses to establish institutional mechanisms to redress complaints of sexual harassment.

Expressing concern over the spate of instances of sexual harassment faced by women journalists, the IWPC urged them to take recourse to the redressal system to have their grievances addressed.

In a statement, IWPC president T.K. Rajalaksh-mi said: “The IWPC extends its support to all the women journalists and women employees in the media who have faced sexual harassment by their co-workers and superiors and have had the courage to speak out. The fact that many of the complaints have gone unheard despi-te being brought to the notice of the appropriate authorities is disturbing and a matter of grave concern.”

It was after Hollywood’s #MeToo movement, which has seen several women speaking  about sexual harassment faced by them, many started  referring to actress Tanushree Dutta’s statement on Nana  Patekar as the beginning of a similar campaign in Bollywood.

Ms Dutta has accused Mr Patekar of behaving inappropriately with her on the sets of a film called ‘Horn Ok Please’ in 2008. Following Ms Dutt’s allegations, women across various spheres, including journalists, have taken to social media narrating their ordeal. Mr Patekar’s lawyer has sent a legal notice to Dutta for allegedly making false accusations against him in an incident that dates back to a decade. “I said this 10 years ago... A lie is a lie,” the 67-year-old actor had said.

Ms Rajalakshmi said, “It is also reflective of a systemic malaise where desp-ite the enactment of the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the committees required to address these complaints.