Understanding Sexual Harassment at Workplace and Its Redressal

Abstract

Part III of the Constitution of India secures various Fundamental Rights that are necessary for enjoying all aspects of life. The idea behind entrenching Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution is to take them out of the reach of changing government. Article 21 of the Constitution securing the right to life and liberty is considered to be the heart and soul of the Indian Constitution. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has used Article 21 in a very creative and effective manner to ensure a better quality of life for people. In the case of Francis Coralie[1] Supreme Court dealt with a very important question i.e. whether the right to life is limited only to protection of limb or faculty or does it go further and embrace something more? The Supreme Court observed that “the right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, viz., the bare necessities of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing in diverse forms, freely moving about and mixing and mingling with fellow human beings. Of course, the magnitude and content of the components of this right would depend upon the content of the economic development of the country, but it must, in any view of the matter, include the right to basic necessity of life and also the right to carry on such functions and activities as constitute the bare minimum expression of the human self.”[2]