Political parties not workplaces, can't be brought under POSH Act: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea challenging a 2022 order of the Kerala High Court.

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to admit a petition seeking to bring political parties under the ambit of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2023, also known as the POSH Act.

A bench led by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, hearing an appeal against a Kerala High Court judgment in 2022 that held that political parties are under no compulsion to establish ICCs in the absence of employee-employer relationship, observed that subjecting political parties to the POSH Act "would open a Pandora's box and become a tool for blackmail".

"How do you equate political parties as workplace? When a person joins a political party, it is not employment. It is not a job as they join political parties on their own volition and on non-remuneration basis. How can the law against sexual harassment at workplace include political parties?" CJI Gavai was quoted as saying by Times Of India.

The petitioner Yogamaya G had argued that though many women are active members of political parties, only CPM has set up an Internal Complaints Committee with external members, leaving a large section of women in political parties with no recourse against sexual harassment.

The petitioner also informed the court that while AAP lacks transparency about its committee, the BJP and Congress have admitted to an inadequate ICC structure as prescribed under the 2013 law.

The petitioner thus demanded that the law must apply equally to registered parties which owe allegiance to the Constitution that mandates protection of dignity of women, including a safe work atmosphere.