SEXUAL MISCONDUCT AT WORKPLACE AND INDIAN CORPORATE AND SECURITIES LAW: EXPLORING CORPORATE DISCLOSURES OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASES BY INDIAN COMPANIES IN #METOO ERA.

The #MeToo movement in India has reignited the debate on the role of companies as employers to prevent and address instances of sexual misconduct against their employees, and ensure their safety at workplaces. This paper examines the recent changes to India's corporate and securities law to incorporate provisions mandating compliance with workplace anti-sexual harassment law by companies. We also discuss how Indian companies' and securities' law requires disclosure of compliance with Indian sexual harassment law. We have examined sections on sexual harassment related disclosures in companies' Directors' Annual Reports to demonstrate their compliance with the Indian workplace sexual harassment law. Our analysis reveals that many companies 'claimed' to have formulated workplace-based anti-sexual harassment policies and constituted an internal complaint committee (ICC). However, there are significant lacunae in companies' reporting on several important aspects related to preventive workplace-related sexual harassment policy enforcement and practices, including measures taken towards gender sensitization and awareness creation and, composition and functioning of the internal committees. In this regard, companies are either providing ambiguous, vague and defensive explanations or too insufficient or no information at all. Our findings also point out that corporate policies on sexual harassment still remains largely 'women-centric' for a significant number of companies. Many companies are yet to make their policies gender-neutral by recognising workplace-based sexual harassment as an offence which does not necessarily mean as 'men the perpetrators' and 'women the victims.' We conclude by determining how the law may be improvised to increase accountability of the companies to report on their anti-sexual harassment policies and working of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]