Sexual harassment at workplace: Bombay HC bars disclosure of parties' names in order sheets

Mumbai, Sep 28: The Bombay High Court has issued a set of guidelines related to sexual harassment cases at the workplace under which the names of both the victim and accused will not be mentioned in the order sheets.

Justice Gautam Patel set out a working protocol for future orders and case file management while hearing a civil case filed by a woman. He said that the parties will not be referred to by their names and the personally identifiable information like mobile numbers or e-mail ids will not be retained by the courts.

He said, "In the order sheets, the names of the parties will not be mentioned. The orders will read 'A vs B', 'P vs D' etc. In the body of the order, the parties will not be referred to by their names but only as to Plaintiff, Defendant No 1 etc. In the body of any order, there will be no mention of any personally identifiable information (PII) such as email ids, mobile or telephone numbers, addresses etc. No witness's names will be mentioned, nor will their addresses be noted. Orders/judgements on merits will not be uploaded."

The court said that the judgements in such cases will be delivered in private chambers or in cameras and will not be pronounced in open courts. "No PII document shall be retained by the Registry when an affidavit, application or pleading is being filed. For verification of identity, the Registry may ask for production of an identity document to establish the identity of the deponent, but no copy of any such document is to be retained."

The order further stated that only advocates and litigants will be allowed to attend the hearings. The complete record will be kept sealed and it is not to be given to any person without a court order. There will be no online or hybrid facility for hearings.

The supporting staff like clerks and peons will not be in the courtroom and only people who provide secretarial assistance to the proceedings will be allowed to stay inside the chambers.

The order further stated, "If any order is to be released into the public domain, this will require a specific order of the Court. This will be on the condition that only the fully anonymised version of the order of judgement is let into the public domain for publication."

Talking about media disclosure, the court order said, "Both sides and all parties and advocates, as also witnesses, are forbidden from disclosing the contents of any order, judgment or filing to the media or publishing any such material in any mode or fashion by any means, including social media, without specific leave of the court."

The witnesses in such cases must sign a statement of non-disclosure and confidentiality. It added, "Any form of recording of any part of the proceedings is strictly forbidden. Any attempt to record or transcribe any part of the proceedings will be a contempt of court."

The court stated that any violation of any part of this order will be considered contempt of court.