Women Commission holds probe into lawyer's suicide

Women Commission holds probe into lawyer's suicide
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

HYDERABAD, JUNE 27: National Commission for Women member K. SHANTA Reddy held an informal probe into the suicide case of advocate Sangita Sharma, at the high court here, amidst sharply divided opinion on the issue of sexual harrassment at the work-place from the women-lawyers.

Sangita Sharma, who committed suicide by consuming poison on June 15, had accused several advocates of having sexually-harassed her. Based on the suicide-note and her personal diary, the police have booked criminal cases against Sangita's senior, D. Vijay Kumar, and his advocate, Narsimha Naidu. Shanta Reddy took up the case following requests from some women's organisations and NGOs.

During her interaction with the women-lawyers, she noticed that they held diametrically-opposite views on the issue. While senior women-lawyers paid rich compliments to their male colleagues for good behaviour towards them, the juniors complained of misbehaviour on the part of the men. Sometimes there were heated arguments between the two groups in front of Reddy and the press.

According to the senior women advocates, ``If any lady advocate (Sangita) was harassed, she could have either started practicing independently or quit the profession. Why commit suicide?''

However, the juniors in the profession held the view that Sangita had looked depressed for quite some time. She could not express her feelings openly as she was a woman, they said. They also demanded strict action against the culprits in Sangita's case.

Reddy spent over two hours interacting with the lawyers at the high court premises. On the occasion, she was shocked that the HC did not have a committee for women lawyers for taking up cases of harassment at the work-place, as directed by the Supreme court.

``I was told that no such committee exists here. If such a panel was set up, Sangita might have approached it instead of taking the extreme step,'' she said.

Meanwhile, Reddy, appealed to all advocates to come forward and reveal facts about the case in the next three-four days. Based on the inputs, she would submit a report to the National Commission chairman. However, none of the male advocates preferred to approach Reddy on the episode.