W.P.(C) 8624/2023

Page 1 of 19

$~1

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+

W.P.(C) 8624/2023 & CM APPL. 32735/2023, CM APPL.

32736/2023

DR SOHAIL MALIK

..... Petitioner

Through:

Mr. Arun Bhardwaj, Sr. Adv.

with Mr. R.K. Saini, Mr. Nishant Bahuguna

and Ms. Usha Sharma, Adv.

versus

UNION OF INDIA & ANR.

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Vineet Dhanda, CGSC with

Mr. Vinay Yadav and Ms. Gurleen Kaur,

Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C.HARI SHANKAR

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MANOJ JAIN

JUDGMENT (ORAL)

%

30.06.2023

per C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

1.

If a woman employee in one department of the Government of

India is sexually harassed by an employee of another department,

would she, or would she not, be entitled to invoke the Sexual

Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and

Redressal) Act, 2013 (―the SHW Act‖, hereinafter)? The petitioner

would seek to submit that the answer has necessarily to be in the

negative. In other words, according to the petitioner, one has to be

sexually harassed by a colleague in one’s own department, for t