Justice Prathiba M Singh of the Delhi High Court emphasized the need for robust legal provisions to ensure protection for both women, men, and other genders.

In an exclusive interview with a news channel, Justice Prathiba M Singh highlighted the significant challenges posed by prolonged legal proceedings, noting that many cases take 10 to 15 years to reach a resolution, causing immense difficulties for both men and women.

"The law only has provisions for sexual harassment of women," she said, adding it is important to ensure that provisions for sexual harassment of men and other genders are included in the future.

"Sometimes inquiries go on for 10-15 years, which creates problems for the woman and the man concerned," she added.

"One thing I want to say for the future is that sexual harassment dealt by the POSH Act is focused only on women. But there is a need to focus it also on men and different genders," Justice Singh said. "It is my experience that many times we see on both sides this is a completely avoidable situation if there is training for the people," Justice Singh said.

"Women are given a lot of respect in this country... Most organizations and companies have established Internal Complaint Committees (ICCs), but I believe two key changes are necessary. A small yet significant step would be ensuring faster resolution of cases," she stated.  

Justice Singh pointed out that ICCs often consist of five to seven members, including NGO representatives, which makes it challenging to schedule frequent meetings. She suggested reducing the number of committee members to streamline the process.  

Additionally, she advocated for a two-tier filtering system for complaints. "If an internal inquiry at the company level finds no merit in a complaint, the matter should be closed. However, if something substantial is found, it should be escalated to a higher level for further review," she explained.