#MeToo: Maneka Gandhi to look into institutional mechanisms of media organizations

Following a request of the Indian Women's Press Corps (IWPC), Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has decided to examine the institutional mechanisms of all the media organisations amid multiple allegations of sexual harassments by women at work place.

On Wednesday, the IWPC penned a letter to Gandhi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the National Commission for Women (NCW) demanding an "impartial and fair inquiry" into the multiple sexual harassment allegations levelled against former Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs MJ Akbar.

The IWPC had also urged them to implement the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act in media organisations.

In reply to their letter, Gandhi said, "I am definitely going to look into the institutional mechanisms of each media organisation immediately. We will send you the findings. Regarding anything else, I am going to ask NCW to look into the matter."

On behalf of NCW, Chairperson Rekha Sharma said, "The National Commission for Women strongly condemns any act of invasion of the private space of women and has taken a serious note of all the instances of sexual harassment of women that have figured in the media recently."

Sharma added, "The Commission has been regularly and promptly registering, and taking actions on all written complaints regarding sexual harassment at workplace filed at the National Commission for Women till date."

As many as 20 women, one after another, have come forward and alleged Akbar of sexually harassing them during his journalistic days. The storm around the 67-year-old gathered momentum after the #MeToo campaign raged in India. He resigned as the Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs on Wednesday.