The Madras High Court on Monday questioned Kalakshetra Foundation for not having framed a policy to prevent gender discrimination and sexual harassment on its campus. It also wondered how the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) as well as Justice K. Kannan committee could function parallelly to probe into complaints of sexual harassment.
Justice M. Dhandapani concurred with senior counsel R. Vaigai, representing seven students who had filed a writ petition with a request to the court to not disclose their identity, that the continuance of two committees would lead to duplicity and harassment of complainants as they may have to keep repeating their travails to the committees.
“Supreme Court says that repeated questioning of the victim amounts to second victimisation. Let not two committees function in tandem. It will not be in the interest of the complainants. Justice Kannan’s expertise or services can be utilised for formulating a comprehensive policy and we are wiling to assist the institution in that process,” she told the judge.
