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NA passes law against harassment of women at workplace

* Violators to face three-year jail, Rs 500,000 fine
* Public, private places, workplaces, homes, private gatherings to fall in ambit of law

By Irfan Ghauri

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly unanimously passed legislation on Wednesday against insults to a woman’s modesty and sexual harassment at any public or private workplace.

Under the bill, Section 509 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has been amended to check harassment of women at home or any private gathering.

The bill was originally moved by Sherry Rehman, when she held the additional portfolio of women’s development.

Although the House passed the bill unanimously, some members across party lines expressed concern over its possible misuse, while others called for proper implementation.

The legislation would become part of another comprehensive bill pending in parliament, which is aimed at protecting workingwomen from sexual harassment at workplaces. The bill is likely to be taken up within a few days.

In the new legislation, a new section – called 509A – has been added to Section 509 of PPC. It defines the term “insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment” as “whoever intending to insult the modesty of any women, utters any word, makes any sound or gesture, or exhibits any object, intending that such word or sound shall be heard, or that gesture or object shall be seen, by such a woman, or intrudes the privacy of such a women”.

It also says that whoever makes “sexual advances or demands sexual favours or uses verbal or non-verbal communication or physical conduct of a sexual nature which intends to annoy, insult, intimidate or threaten the other person, or commits such acts at the workplace, or makes submission to such conduct – either explicitly or implicitly – a term or condition of any individual’s employment, or makes submission to or rejection of such conduct by an individual a basis for employment decision affecting such an individual, or conducts such behaviour with the intention of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment shall be punished with imprisonment – which may extend to three years — or a fine of up to Rs 500,000 or both”.

The bill covers public places – like markets, public transport, streets or parks – private places, workplaces, private gatherings and homes.

It defines workplace as “the place of work or the premises where an organisation or employer operates, this may be a specific building, factory, open area or a large geographical area where the activities of the organisation are carried out”.

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