Sexual offenders in office stand to lose salary, job, promotion

August 4, 2013

officeNew Delhi, Aug 4: You could risk losing at least 10% of your salary every month for a year, promotions, withdrawal of privileges and perks or even face termination of service if found guilty of sexually harassing a woman at your workplace. These are part of the new rules under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) that was passed by Parliament recently. The rules empower the complaints committee to restrict the perpetrator's entry from the workplace if the guilty happens to be an outsider. The panel can also impose a fine of Rs 500, or 5% of the woman's salary in case of a false or malicious complaint.

These provisions are included in new rules that have been drafted by the ministry of women and child development and sent to the law ministry for their opinion. The provisions are likely to be notified by end-August.

A complaints committee, established under the law, will be empowered to recommend and impose a written apology, censure, withhold promotions, pay hikes or increments, entitlements and privileges, impose termination of service in case where they find a case of sexual harassment. The committee can also revoke, suspend any licence or registration in cases like a doctor or a lawyer's licence.

If the act has been committed by an outsider or a visitor the committee can pass orders to restrict the entry of the perpetrator or forewarn him of criminal and legal action in case of trauma to the victim. The guilty also risks losing a minimum of 10% of his salary every month for a period of a year or in a lump sum. The committee has been given powers to take in to consideration the nature of relationship between the complainant and the accused, the position of the respondent in the hierarchy and the incidents of prior complaint before determining the nature of penalty.

It can also slap a fine of Rs 500 or 5% of the salary of the complainant every month for a year in case of a false or malicious complaint.

The sexual harassment law, which has been in effect from April, is applicable to organized and unorganized workplaces including educational institutions, hospitals, residences (applicable to domestic workers) and provides a mechanism for the implementation of the Vishakha guidelines of 1997. Sexual harassment has been described broadly in the act as any attempt to promise or give preferential treatment, threaten or attempt to give detrimental treatment to an employee, create a work environment that is hostile, offensive or intimidating or humiliate an employee so that it affects her health or safety.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Chandigarh, Aug 1: The death toll in the Punjab spurious liquor tragedy rose to 86 on Saturday even as Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suspended seven excise officials and six policemen, officials said.

The government also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for each of the families of the deceased, they said.

Tarn Taran alone accounted for 63 deaths, followed by 12 in Amritsar and 11 in Gurdaspur’s Batala. Till Friday night, the state had reported 39 deaths in the tragedy unfolding since Wednesday night.

According to an official statement, the CM ordered the suspension of seven excise officials, along with six policemen.

Among the suspended officials are two deputy superintendents of police and four station house officers.

Strict action will be taken against any public servant or others found complicit in the case, said the chief minister, describing the police and excise department failure to check the manufacturing and sale of spurious liquor as shameful.

Nobody will be allowed to get away with feeding poison to our people, he added.

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News Network
March 12,2020

New Delhi, Mar 12: The Supreme Court told the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday that as of now, there was no law that could back their action of putting up roadside posters of those accused of vandalism during anti-CAA protests in Lucknow.

An apex court bench refused to stay the March 9 Allahabad High Court order directing the Yogi Adityanath administration to remove the posters.

The top court, which grilled the Uttar Pradesh government for putting up such posters in public, described the plea as a matter that needed "further elaboration and consideration".

A vacation bench of justices U U Lalit and Aniruddha Bose said a "bench of sufficient strength" would consider next week the Uttar Pradesh government's appeal against the Allahabad High Court order directing the state administration to remove the posters of those accused of vandalism during anti-CAA protests.

It directed the apex court registry to put up the case file before Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde so that a "bench of sufficient strength can be constituted at the earliest to hear and consider" the case next week.

During the hearing, the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, that it was a matter of "great importance".

It asked Mehta whether the state government had the power to put up such posters.

The top court, however, said there was no doubt that action should be taken against rioters and they should be punished.

Mehta told the court that the posters were put up as a "deterrent" and the hoardings only said that these persons were liable to pay for their alleged acts during the violence.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for former IPS officer S R Darapuri whose poster has also been affixed in Lucknow, told the bench that the state was duty-bound to show the authority of law backing its action.

He said the action of the Uttar Pradesh government amounted to a "mega blanket" approach of naming and shaming these persons without final adjudication and it was an open invitation to common men to lynch them as the posters also had their addresses and photographs.

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 27,2020

Ayodhya, Jul 27: With days to go for the August 5 "bhoomi pujan" ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the mosques adjacent to the demolished Babri Masjid premises are spreading the message of a peaceful coexistence of Hindus and Muslims.

There are eight mosques and two mausoleums located close to the 70-acre Babri Masjid premises mandated by the Supreme Court for a temple of Sri Ram.

Azaan and namaaz are offered in the mosques and the annual "Urs" is held at the mausoleums without any objection from the local Hindus.

The eight mosques located near the upcoming Ram temple premises are Masjid Dorahikuan, Masjid Mali Mandir ke Bagal, Masjid Kaziyana Achchan ke Bagal, Masjid Imambara, Masjid Riyaz ke Bagal, Masjid Badar Paanjitola, Masjid Madaar Shah and Masjid Tehribazar Jogiyon ki.

The two mausoleums are Khanqaahe Muzaffariya and Imambara.

"It is the greatness of Ayodhya that the mosques surrounding the Ram temple are giving a strong message of communal harmony to the rest of the world," Haji Asad Ahmad, the corporator of the Ram Kot ward, said. The Ram temple area is situated in Ahmad's ward.

"Muslims take out the 'juloos' of Barawafaat that goes through the periphery of Ram Janmabhoomi. All religious functions and rituals of Muslims are respected by their fellow citizens," the corporator said.

Asked for a comment on the presence of mosques near the upcoming Ram temple premises, the chief priest of the temple, Acharya Satyendra Das, said, "We had a dispute only with the structure that was connected to the name of (Mughal emperor) Babur. We have never had any issue with the other mosques and mausoleums in Ayodhya. This is a town where Hindus and Muslims live in peace."

"Muslims offer namaaz, we perform our puja. The mosques around us will strengthen Ayodhya's communal harmony and peace will prevail," he added.

Both Hindus and Muslims have accepted the Supreme Court verdict over Ram Janmabhoomi, Das said, adding, "We have no dispute with each other."

Sayyad Akhlaq Ahmad Latifi, the "sajjada nasheen" and "pir" of the 500-year-old Khanqaahe Muzaffariya mausoleum, said Muslims in Ayodhya are performing all religious practices freely.

"We offer prayers five times a day in the mosque at Khanqaah and hold the yearly 'Urs'," he added.

"What a scene would it be -- a grand Ram temple surrounded by small mosques and mausoleums and everyone offering prayers according to their beliefs. That will be representative of the true culture of India," Mahant Yugal Kishore Sharan Shastri, the chief priest of the Sarayu Kunj temple adjacent to the Ram Janmabhoomi premises, said.

Reacting to the presence of mosques and mausoleums near the Ram Janmabhoomi premises, Triloki Nath Pandey, the decree holder of the land as the "first friend of Ram Lalla" as mandated by the Supreme Court, said, "We do not have any objection to either those mosques or any other mosques. We will not trigger a dispute regarding any structure, Ayodhya must live in peace and communal harmony."

Mahant Raju Das, the priest of the Hanumangarhi temple, said, "The presence of the mosques tells the story of Ayodhya's communal harmony. A Ram mandir will be built and there will be no objection to the mosques or religious practices of Muslims."

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