“How dare you?” she demanded, at which point he apparently retorted by saying: “I can do it again.” He followed that up by demonstrating his words — reaching out in the court office and touching her breast in front of an audience of 30-odd lawyers. The lady lawyer, feeling outraged, slapped him. The male lawyer slapped her back.

This exchange was behind-the-scenes for this petition to the SC by a group of female lawyers for implementing the Visakha judgement in courts. The male lawyer was punished with seven days imprisonment and was prohibited from entering the courts for a few months, “but no one could confirm that the punishment was carried out”, reports columnist Sunetra Choudhury.

A young female lawyer found herself at the receiving end of some unwarranted attention. He asked her to marry him, which she dismissed as a joke… He’d crossed over to a stalker. When he sent her a message that said,”I want to play with your blood”, she realized she had to report him before it was too late. But how was she to complain?

It took some persuasion by the junior lawyer for the Bar Council to help her with her reported complaint. They organised a hearing face-to-face with her harasser and concluded with: “madam we have discussed, ab theek hai na? (is it okay now?)”.

And then there’s the Sexual Harassment Bill providing to impose a fine on women who make false complaints. Not the best for junior lawyers harassed by seniors with established reputation. [Firstpost via MeghaA_11]