Sexual harassment infringes on the following two fundamental rights provided by the Constitution of India: One is the right of a woman to gender equality under Article 14 and the other is the woman's right to life and live with dignity under Article 21.
In a landmark judgement in the Case of Vishaka Vs. State of Rajasthan and others (AIR, 1997 SC 3011) Supreme Court provided clear guidelines for dealing with sexual harassment in 1997. These guidelines which are legally binding and must be enforced include definition of sexual harassment at the workplace, prevention of such harassment, disciplinary action against the erring employee, and employer's responsibility in ensuring a harassment-free workplace.
The Committee for Managing Gender Issues has been set up as the Internal Complaints Committee that the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad was required to set up as per the Supreme Court Guidelines. This would normally limit its outcomes to resolution, settlement, or prosecution. However, CMGI was set up not only to deal with complaints of sexual harassment of women in the workplace but also to focus on creating awareness, counselling and educating about gender issues. For example, specific components of induction programmes were formally introduced and are based on creating awareness and informing students about the Institute's framework for dealing with such issues. In addition, gender sensitisation workshops for staff and students are also conducted.
CMGI shall have a membership of five to seven persons, of which at least half the members shall be women.