KOZHIKODE: A healthy debate about the ‘Security of Women at workplaces - A fundamental right’ organised by the Punarjani was held at the Malabar Chamber of Commerce Hall on Monday. The panel which discussed the issue raised many interesting questions. The topic was introduced by Professor A Sathyasheelan, a faculty of Law at the Cochin University. The discussion that pointed out the provisions in law that protect women from sexual harassment also mocked about the errors in judgement that many lower courts had made. The milestone verdicts in the Vishakha Vs Rajasthan Government case was discussed in depth at the seminar. Professor Iris, professor at St Xavier’s College Thumpa, stressed that active women cells were important to alleviate sexual harassment against women in every settings. “People still ask irrelevant questions like, why did Soumya, who was murdered while returning to her home after work, travel alone at night in a train? This attitude of some sections of the society is something that is condemnable,” says Iris. Dr Sherly Vasu, a Forensic Medical expert who led the postmortem of Soumya, also took part in the discussion. “Security at workplace is not something that can be assured alone by a woman as she needs to be in different places for work. It is something that should come out from every member of the society,” she said.The two-hour long discussions was attended by Law College students and members of Punarjani. Punarjani is an organisation that was formed by five lady lawyers who aim to create grass-roots level legal awareness for women and act as a shelter for women who have been prone to harassment in the past. The 10-month-old women organisation has already conducted five seminars and registered more than 30 cases, most of them relating to that of marital problems for which the group provides free of cost legal advice.
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