ISLAMABAD: To discourage unnecessary litigation filed on flimsy grounds, President Dr Arif Alvi has imposed a fine upon the accused in a harassment case to bear the airfare charges of the complainant for filing representations on flimsy grounds in a hasty manner and putting the alleged victim under further mental and financial hardships by making her travel from Karachi to Islamabad to attend the hearing.
The president issued this order in a sexual harassment case where a female Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) (the complainant) at Airport Security Force (ASF) posted in Sukkur was allegedly harassed by the Airport Manager.
According to her, the accused pressurized her to solemnize marriage with her. However, within four months of the marriage, the accused allegedly started maltreating her and ultimately handed over the divorce deed in February 2022. She alleged that the accused forced her to reside with him after the divorce, failing which he threatened to make her jobless as he was the Airport Manager. The accused was also reported to have sent indecent WhatsApp messages to the complainant.
Feeling aggrieved, the complainant approached the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat (For Protection Against Harassment) (FOSPAH) of Women at Workplace. During proceedings before the Ombudsman, the accused applied for rejection of the complaint on the ground that it was not maintainable as the allegations were vague and were of domestic nature between the two parties.
The counsel of the accused contended that the competent forum for such issues had been specified in the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Act, 2013 promulgated by the Provincial Assembly of Sindh. After hearing the parties, FOSPAH rejected his application for dismissal of the complaint. The accused then filed a representation with the President assailing FOSPAH’s order, which was also rejected on grounds that the proceedings in the main case were still pending before FOSPAH wherein the evidence was yet to be recorded to ascertain the factum of harassment or otherwise. He held that the accused had filed the representation to prolong the proceedings and such a tendency needed to be discouraged.
Alvi said that it was well settled that no party was allowed to file representations hastily to cause inordinate delay wasting the precious time of the Ombudsman and the President. “Such tendency of uncalled-for litigation needs to be discouraged,” he added.
The president further said that the preamble of the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Act, 2010 explicitly provided that the main objective of the legislation was to provide expeditious relief by redressing the grievances of litigants.
He added that to achieve the objective of the Act, imposing an exemplary cost on the party filing representations on flimsy grounds was appropriate to curb inordinate delay in the disposal of harassment matters. He said that Section 14 of the Reforms Act, 2013 empowered the president to dispose of a representation by passing an order as he deems fit and such power entailed that such power was to be exercised reasonably, fairly, justly and for the advancement of the purposes of the enactment.
The president said that the application filed by the accused for rejection of the complaint on the grounds which could not be adjudicated except by appraisal of evidence.
It was nothing but an abuse of the process of law not only to defeat the main objective of the Act but also to put the complainant under further mental and financial hardships who had to travel to Islamabad from Karachi with her counsel to attend the hearing of the representation by incurring airfare cost.
The president, therefore, rejected the representation of the accused and imposed the cost of air travel expenses of the complainant upon the accused.