Corpun file 17655

Outlook India, 8 May 2006

Indian sexual harassment victim moves Saudi court

Mumbai, May 8 (PTI) -- An Indian woman, victim of sexual harassment at the hands of her superior at Saudi Arabia Airlines here, has moved the Shariah court at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia demanding that extreme punishment be meted out to the accused as per the Islamic law of that country. Shehnaz Sani, 53-year-old Indian national, having won the legal battle against the SAA in Bombay High Court, told PTI here today that she had petitioned the Shariah Council at Jeddah last month in this regard.

The victim has named six SAA officials as co-accused, besides the main accused. She also demanded that the right hands and left legs of the six SAA officials, who allegedly refused to heed her initial complaint of harassment and tried to save the main accused, be cut off.

She has also demanded eighty lashes for each of them, according to the Islamic law.

Sani joined SAA in 1978 as Secretary to the Station Manager at Mumbai. The main accused, who took over as Station Manager in 1983, began to make advances towards her despite her protests. When she complained to the authorities at SAA, she was sacked in 1985. Sani then moved the labour court which found that her allegations of sexual harassment had substance and ordered SAA to take her back. SAA challenged the order in the Bombay High where Justice Shrikrishna upheld the labour court judgement and observed that the conduct of the main accused "squarely fell within the concept of sexual harassment".

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