Sexual Harassment at Workplace India: Addressing Issues

Dear Client, From the prolonged content of your query, it appears you are extremely aggrieved with the service of the service provider and decided to move the Court for relief. On detection of defects in the product, post-purchase is termed and defined under Sec.2(34) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as "Product Liability" which means the responsibility of a product manufacturer or product seller/service centre, to compensate for any harm caused to the consumer/customer by such defective product manufactured or sold or for a deficiency in services relating thereto. Chapter VI, Section 82 to Section 87 of the Consumer Protection Act deals with product liability and So, in the given scenario, serving a strong legal notice to both Service Provider and the product manufacturer, you can file a complaint against them over alleged deficiency in service and unfair trade practices before the District Consumer Commission under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 claiming replacement of the vehicle or refund of the cost of the vehicle including the expenses incurred towards repairing/servicing along with compensation for harassment and cost of litigation. As per Section 69 of the CPA, the complaint should be filed within two years from the date of the cause of action. Since you have been facing a deficiency in service since 2017 up to now, your claim is now barred by limitation. So, you have to file a petition seeking condonation of delay on the grounds of continued cause of action along with your complaint petition and lead the evidence to justify your claim before the Commission. If required, hire the service of an experienced Advocate handling consumer cases to navigate the issue in the right way.

Yes, being a married Person if you ask another female for live in, then it can tantamount as sexual harassment at Work Place. The female can file the complaint before the HR Department. The ICC will decide based upon the merits of the case. You need to prove your innocence by showing the past conduct and what did you meant to say by that message. But it would not be an easy task to save yourself. You need to stratagize your defence and get some witnesses who knew about past live in relationship and your conduct with the lady. That might give you some chance to counter the allegations.

Dear Client, From the contents of the query, it appears that you left the job after signing the final report of the internal Inquiry Committee of the company. You tender your resignation citing the case of harassment that happened to you and the person against whom you brought the complaint of sexual harassment had left the company and after the lapse of 6 months, you want to reopen the complaint of sexual harassment again through a police complaint. So in this scenario, your complaint to the police may not be accepted at this belated stage especially when your earlier complaint to HRD is closed without your knowledge about the outcome of the inquiry and you left the job without pursuing the matter. In case the Police refuse to accept your complaint, you have to file a complaint before the Magistrate u/s.156(3) Cr PC for an order for registration of an FIR by the police. Under S.156(3), the magistrate has the power to direct the police to investigate in cognizable offences. Police has to register an FIR and investigate. Police have to file a final report (positive or negative) In case of positive, the court will take cognizance, issue summons and conduct trial. In 156(3) the order comes in 2 days as the court has to simply decide whether to order the registration of FIR or proceed to take the cognizance and proceed under 200 CrPC. If the court decides to proceed under 200 CrPC then the final disposal of the case will take a year or even more depending on the backlog of cases in the court. So, if you like to file a complaint at the belated stage, you need ot consult an Advocate for guidance and steps.

Dear Client, From your prolonged contents of query, it appears that you become the victim of deficient service from different service providers on multiple occasions. To resolve the issue of deficiency in service legally you have to knock the door of the Consumer Forum. So, in the given scenario, serving a strong legal notice to all the service providers, you can file a complaint against them over alleged deficiency in service and unfair trade practices before the Dist. Consumer Commission under Sec.35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 claiming the money you lost for deficient service along with compensation for harassment and mental agony and cost of litigation. The complaint should be filed within two years from the date of the cause of action.

There are a few details regarding company policies surrounding this that need to be considered. One of this includes when they gave you the option of a department change or a 3 month leave, did the leave mean you were allowed to return working after 3 months? There are also the need for some clarity on this part.