Should Advocates Be Covered Under PoSH Act? Supreme Court Seeks BCI’s Reply

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Central government to respond to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the extension of the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act to practicing lawyers.

The PIL, filed by advocate Seema Joshi, challenges the Bombay High Court’s recent ruling that the PoSH Act applies only in cases involving an employer-employee relationship and therefore cannot be extended to independent advocates. The High Court had reasoned that Bar Councils are not employers of lawyers and, hence, cannot be mandated to set up Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs).

The petitioner argued that excluding the legal profession from the PoSH Act leaves women advocates without adequate protection against workplace harassment. She emphasised that the Supreme Court in the Medha Kotwal Lele case had already directed the BCI to ensure the implementation of the Vishaka guidelines across Bar bodies, and the Bombay High Court ruling ignored this binding precedent.

A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and R Mahadevan expressed doubts about the maintainability of the PIL under Article 32, noting that the petitioner should ideally have filed an appeal against the High Court ruling. However, the Court decided to seek responses from the BCI and the Centre.

The petition also urged the Court to:

• Declare that the PoSH Act applies to women advocates enrolled with Bar Councils and practicing before courts.
• Direct all State Bar Councils and Bar Associations to set up Internal Committees under the Act.
• Set aside the Bombay High Court’s order limiting PoSH protections to employees only.
• Issue updated guidelines, building on the Vishaka and Medha Kotwal Lele judgments, to ensure gender-just mechanisms in the legal profession.

The plea noted that several bodies, including the Bar Council of Delhi, Delhi High Court Bar Association, and even the Supreme Court of India (through its 2013 regulations), have already created Internal Committees to address complaints of sexual harassment by women advocates.