New Delhi: The Women and Child Development Ministry plans to set up a panel of legal experts to look into the allegations of sexual harassment that have surfaced in the #MeToo campaign, minister Maneka Gandhi said on Friday, asserting that she believes in the “pain and trauma” of every complainant.
More women should come out and address the issue of sexual harassment and narrate their experiences, Gandhi said.
“I believe in all of them. I believe in the pain and trauma behind every single complainant,” she told PTI in an interview.
Gandhi did not comment on the allegations of sexual harassment against her colleague M J Akbar, who has been accused by several former women colleagues of sexual harassment when he served as editor at various media organisations.
The minister of state for external affairs, film director Sajid Khan and actor Alok Nath are among those accused of sexual misconduct and more.
“I am proposing to set up a committee with senior judicial and legal persons as members to look into all issues emanating from the #MeToo campaign,” Gandhi told PTI in an interview.
The committee will look into the legal and institutional framework in place for handling complaints of sexual harassment, including some of the complaints if required, and advise the ministry on how to strengthen these, the WCD minister said. “It takes a lot for women to come out like this. These cases have been elephants in the rooms for the last 25 years. The question here is how can they prove these after all these years… they have faced verbal assault, they have been touched, pinched, their clothes have been pulled…
“The first thing to do is naming and shaming these monsters. Naming and shaming will go a long way in lessening the pain these women have been carrying,” she said.
The next step, she said, is to set up a committee that can listen to the women. (PTI)
