National Commission for Women has welcomed the Supreme Court judgement convicting former Punjab director general of police and Indian Hockey Federation president K P S Gill in a sexual harassment case in 1998.
Girija Vyas, chairperson of NCW, said this judgment will help encourage hundreds of thousands of women in fighting against sexual oppression. NCW is a constitutional body engaged in protecting women's rights in India.
"There are so many complaints these days regarding sexual harassment at workplace. This judgment will make way for the passing of the Bill we have sent to the Parliament to protect women from sexual assault at workplace," Vyas said.
"It should be understood that no matter how big the person is, he is not above law. And if women determine themselves to fight for justice, they will surely get justice," she said.
She said sexual harassment by colleagues and subordinates have become common and there was need to contain it.
Gill, an Indian Police Service officer who is credited with countering militancy in Punjab, had been convicted for bottom pinching a woman Indian Administrative Service officer Rupan Deol-Bajaj in May 1998.