Institutional failure in sexual harassment cases: Indira Jaising

There has been a failure of institutional mechanism in cases of both a law intern accusing a retired apex court judge of sexual harassment and that of the woman journalist of Tehelka, Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising said Monday.

Women have to guard against the inevitable backlash which they encounter after putting in their complaints in such cases, Jaising said in her addressing at the inaugural United Nations Public Lecture here.

"In case of the young intern, the backlash has already come," she said.

The senior lawyer said that since the Dec 16 gang rape of a girl in Delhi last year, efforts have been made to redefine rape and tighten the law in many aspects.

But "did these institutional reforms work? We notice a failure of institutional reforms in both cases (of law intern and Tehelka)".

The young woman law intern has accused a now-retired Supreme Court judge of having misbehaved with her last December, while the woman journalist of Tehelka has alleged sexual harassment by the magazine's editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal.

Listing the problems faced by victims, Jaising said bias plays itself out in the entire medico-legal examination of the victims of rape.

Absence of a victims' protection programme leads to witnesses turning hostile, she said.

Failure of victims getting proper legal aid is another major problem, she said.

Jaising said the Nirbhaya Fund (set up for women's welfare) remains unutilised.

"Accountability from police and armed forces eludes us," she said.

Jaising was the first woman to be appointed additional solicitor general. She was given the Padma Shri in 2005 for her service to the cause of public affairs.