Letter to BS: Why don't victims of sexual harassment come forward sooner?

Every time someone is accused of sexual harassment, he is removed from his posts, his assignments are cancelled and he is shunned, giving the impression that the person’s guilt has already been proved. But the accuser is free to carry on with her life. For a fair probe, even the accuser must be relieved of all assignments and employment till the time the matter is resolved. In a day and age where we bat for gender equality in all spheres, it appears that there are areas where such equality is conveniently ignored as it is wrongly believed that in some instances, it is acceptable. This is wrong and needs to be corrected immediately. It could also be that in some cases the victim has been goaded by someone who is powerful and is a professional rival of the accused. Next, why is there no statutory limit on the time period under which such accusations can be made? Surely, if the victim is an adult then one would expect the charge to be made immediately. Minors can get some leeway. We had one starlet saying that she was raped 23 times. In such cases, questions will be asked about why did she take so long to report? 

T R Ramaswami, Mumbai

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