A #MeToo petition begun by Koshika Krishna, addressed to Union Minister For Women & Child Development Maneka Gandhi, has said that time has come for Indian workplaces to “experience its #MeToo moment.”
Taking a cue from Roya Sarkar, a US-based law student, who created a flutter by published a list on Facebook accusing more than 50 Indian professors of sexual harassment, and actor Tanushree Dutta, who called out co-actor Nana Patekar, Krishna says, while many women have found the courage to speak out, what’s disturbing is that there is “deafening silence and lack of support for those individuals who have spoken out.”
Pointing out that most companies have not set up Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs), as mandated under the Sexual Harassment at the Workplace Act, 2013, the petition regrets, in the media world, only 7 out of 17 major production houses in Mumbai confirmed that they had sexual harassment committees in place.
Seeking signatures, the petition says, “In a country where women reportedly make up 28% of the workforce, it is high time the government steps in and holds every company accountable in order to make every individual feel safer.”
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