Court caseAIR 1997 SC 3011

Bhanwari Devi, a social worker in Rajasthan, was gang raped for trying to stop a child marriage. Women's organisations filed a public interest petition seeking enforcement of the fundamental rights of working women in the absence of any law against sexual harassment at the workplace.

The court held that sexual harassment at the workplace violates the rights to equality, to practise a profession and to life with dignity. In the absence of legislation it laid down the Vishaka Guidelines - definition, preventive steps, complaint committees, disciplinary action - binding under Article 141 until Parliament legislated, relying on CEDAW as consistent with the constitutional guarantees.