A SINGLE BENCH OF BOMBAY HC ISSUED GUIDELINES TO PROTECT THE IDENTITY UNDER THE POSH ACT

The Single-judge Justice Gautam Patel of the Bombay High Court issued guidelines to protect the identities of the parties in a proceeding under the Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) and Rules. The Court passed the guidelines after noting that there are no established guidelines to protect the identity of parties under the Act.

PROTOCOLS

BEFORE FILING PLEADINGS

1. No PII document shall be held by the Registry when an affidavit or pleading is being filed;

2. For verification of identity, the Registry may ask for an identity document, but no copy of the identity document will be retained in the file;

3. Titles of further affidavits must use the anonymized title; 

4. The registry shall under no circumstances enter the email id, Aadhaar number or any other PII of any of the parties or witnesses.

ACCESS

1. The Registry under no circumstances permit anyone other than the Advocate-on-Record with valid vakalatnama to make inquiry or copies of any filing or order;

2. Fresh filings and the entire record is to be kept sealed and kept with the main record;

HEARINGS

1. Hearings shall take place in chambers or in-camera;

2. No online hearings will be allowed;

3. Only the advocates and the litigants are permitted to be present in the Court for hearing, and the support staff, court staff (except Court Master, stenographer, etc.) shall leave the court;

ORDERS

1. The order sheets shall not contain the names of the parties; the orders will read “A v B”.

2. The parties shall be referred only to Plaintiff and Defendant and not by their names.

3. In the body of any order, there is no mention of any personally identifiable information of the parties nor the witness’s names.

4. All orders and judgments will be passed in private, not pronounced in open court but only in Chambers or in-camera. 

MEDIA DISCLOSURE FORBIDDEN 

1. Parties and witnesses are forbidden from disclosing any content of the order, publishing any material, or providing information to the media, including social media, without specific leave of the court.

2. Witnesses must sign a statement of non-disclosure and confidentiality.

BREACH

1. Publishing names and addresses of the parties are prohibited;

2. Any disclosure of such information by any person, including media, will amount to contempt of the Court.

Author: Papiha Ghoshal