Kolkata, Feb 13 A division bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Thursday, directed the West Bengal government to form a “review team” on the safety of women at the workplace especially those engaged in night duty.
The division bench of Calcutta High Court’s Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Bivas Pattanayak gave the direction acting on public interest litigation in the matter amid the event of a ghastly rape and murder of a woman junior doctor at R.G. Kar Medical College & Hospital in Kolkata within the hospital premises last year.
In the petition, the petitioners especially pointed out the scenario in the Information Technology sector, which operates on a 24x7 basis with many women employees engaged in night duty.
Acting on that petition, the division bench directed the state Home Department to form a “review team” to review the aspects of the safety of women in the workplace with special emphasis on women who are engaged in night duty.
The division bench also directed the state Home Department to formulate a draft notice on this proposed “review team” and asked the state home secretary to act on it.
According to the division bench, the “review team” will examine the existing safety measures adopted on this count, identify the lapses in the system and suggest correct measures on this count.
Incidentally, the ghastly rape and murder at R.G Kar happened within the hospital premises on the night of August 9 last year when she was on duty. After the tragedy, the state government came out with a 17-point notification on the safety of women in the workplace.
However, in that notification, the state government suggested avoiding allotment of night duty for women as far as possible which drew strong criticisms from different sections of the society. The proposal also attracted criticisms from the Supreme Court.
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