POSH Act application to be extended to TV serial sector soon: WCD Director

After the film industry, the government plans to take forward efforts to prevent harassment of women in the workplace to the TV serial sector too.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop on ‘Strengthening institutional mechanisms combating violence against women and girls’ organised by the Kochi-based Centre for Public Policy and Research (CPPR) in association with the U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, in the State capital on Thursday, Women and Child Development (WCD) Director Haritha V. Kumar said initiatives had been taken to understand how provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) [POSH] Act, 2013, were applicable to the film sector. As part of this, first round of trainings had been held for all stakeholders.

After the TV serial sector, the government would focus on applicability of POSH Act in the gig sector. It would explore how gig workers could raise a complaint of sexual harassment and they could be empowered to raise it.

The WCD Director said though internal committees (IC) had been set up in many places, the State had not been able to universalise them. ICs had been set up in government departments and offices. Now, trainings were being conducted for IC members in Technopark, Cyberpark, and SmartCity.

She said the government was planning outcome assessments to understand how allocations for gender concerns in the Budget were translating into results.

She called for deliberations on how to fast-track proceedings in domestic violence and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) cases to ensure justice and privacy for the survivors.

S. Ajeetha Begum, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Thiruvananthapuram range, in her address, said the issue of patriarchy as well as socio-cultural norms had to be addressed to combat the violence.

Despite strong laws, conviction rates remained low. For instance, in POCSO cases the conviction rate was around 16%. Again, there was only one woman protection officer for the entire district of Thiruvananthapuram. This highlighted the need to strengthen institutional mechanisms to protect women and children. Focus also had to be on rehabilitation and reintegration of survivors into society, the DIG said.

Gita Gopal, special adviser on gender at the CPPR, said despite the large number of crimes that were registered in the State, more than 30% of the cases were pending in fast-track courts, in contrast to 60% in Bihar.

It also had to be examined if the laws were survivor-centric.

She called for measuring outcomes of institutions and laws to bring about policy changes and stressed the need to follow-up on survivors of violence.

Anjali Prasad Guntur, director of programmes, Raksha Inc, Georgia, U.S. spoke about best practices in the U.S. on combating violence against women and girls.

K.C. Rosakutty, chairperson, Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation Ltd.; S.N. Raghuchandran Nair, president of the Trivandrum Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and D. Dhanuraj, chairperson of the CPPR, spoke. A message by Jeanne M. Briganti, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Consulate General, Chennai, was screened on the occasion.

The workshop will conclude on Friday.