Aerocity hotels told to form anti-harassment panels
NEW DELHI: Nearly a month after CCTV footage of a 33-year-old woman executive at a hotel in Delhi’s Aerocity allegedly being molesting by her senior went viral, the Delhi Police have written to the hotels and airlines asking them to form internal complaint committees to deal with sexual harassment cases.
There are about a dozen hotels in Aerocity and many airlines also have their offices at the airport, from where complaints of sexual harassment come.
“As per the directions and guidelines prescribed by the Supreme Court, regarding sex- ual harassment of working women in workplace, formation of an internal complaint committee to look into the complaints of sexual harassment at workplace is mandatory. It has been observed that the private organizations/ companies are not following the guidelines and norms prescribed by the SC,” states the letter issued by Sanjay Bhatia, DCP (airport) to one of the hotels in Aerocity.
Police said they will also check whether the hotels are following the norms or not. Police will also conduct a security audit to check CCTV cameras.
In the earlier case, the woman had alleged that she complained to the hotel’s HR officials, but instead of acting against the security manager, they sacked her. The woman then approached the police with a complaint on August 1.
The CCTV footage showed the security officer pulling his female colleague by her saree. But, she managed to keep him away after a brief tussle.
“The committee will help the victim to report the matter immediately. It is important for the companies to follow the guidelines otherwise action will be taken against them,” said a senior police officer.
Police have asked the hotels and airlines to protect the identity of the complainant and also report the matter to the police.