A plea in the Supreme Court urges political parties to follow the POSH Act, ensuring protection against sexual harassment for female workers. The petition calls for internal complaints committees in line with the Vishaka guidelines.
New Delhi: Today, on July 24, A new petition has been filed in the Supreme Court asking for strict directions to make sure political parties follow the rules of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013—popularly known as the POSH Act.
The plea says that political parties fall under the meaning of workplaces as per the 2013 law, and hence they must follow the procedures laid down in the Act.
The petition was filed by Yogamaya MG, an advocate, who had earlier approached the Supreme Court in 2024 with a similar request.
At that time, the Court had given her the liberty to approach the competent authority. Following that order, she sent a representation to the Election Commission of India, but according to the petition, she has not received any response till now.
Now, the advocate has once again moved the apex court. This time, she is asking for directions to ensure that women working in political parties, including during campaigns and on-ground political work, have a safe, secure, and inclusive work environment.
She also wants the political parties to be made accountable for preventing and dealing with sexual harassment within their organisations.
The plea names the Union Government, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Indian National Congress (INC), among others, as respondents.
It seeks an order to establish proper grievance redressal systems within political parties to handle complaints of sexual harassment, following the standards set in the Supreme Court’s landmark Vishaka judgment and the 2013 POSH Act.
“This writ petition challenges the exclusion of female political workers from the ambit of protection under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 (POSH Act),”
the petition reads.
The petitioner, through her advocate Sriram P, argued that although the POSH Act is meant to be progressive and to protect women, in reality, women who work for political parties—especially at the local level—continue to face harassment and exploitation, often without any proper legal remedy or support system.
She highlighted that during political campaigns and party work, these women are highly exposed to such risks.
She pointed to studies conducted by UN Women in 2013 and the Inter-Parliamentary Union in 2016.
These studies have documented a widespread presence of both psychological and sexual harassment against women in political spaces across the globe.
These findings, the plea says, make it urgent and necessary to include political women workers under the protective umbrella of the POSH Act.
The petition further argues that there is no clear or valid reason—no “rationale or intelligible differentia”—for keeping women in politics out of the legal protections that are already available to women in other professions.
According to the petitioner, women working in political parties meet the definition of “employees” as given in the POSH Act, and they too should have access to complaint mechanisms and legal remedies.
Finally, the plea requests that the court direct all political parties to set up an “internal complaints committee” as per the POSH Act, to address and resolve cases of sexual harassment in a time-bound and fair manner.
This, the petitioner says, will help in establishing a
“clear framework for preventing and addressing sexual harassment within political parties.”
CASE TITLE:
MS. YOGAMAYA M.G. vs UNION OF INDIA & ORS. WP(C) No. 695 OF 2025
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