No goings-on inside a Special Economic Zone can be totally inured from the laws of the land. Therefore, when allegations surfaced that two supervisors of a private rubber glove manufacturing company in the Cochin SEZ strip-searched about 30 women employees, reportedly to verify the origin of a sanitary napkin that was dumped inside a toilet, law invariably took its course, though after some delay at the initial stage. The incident, which occurred on December 10, came to light only on December 27 after the state women’s commission intervened, though an FIR was filed with the local police on December 19.
With allegations about settling scores with the supervisors who were recently promoted also beginning to make the rounds, the case may be heading for a tame end. The CSEZ officer, who heads a three-member committee set up to probe the incident, points out discrepancies in the versions by the women employees, with one of them who initially raised the charge of strip-search by supervisors proving to be absent on December 10. At another level, pressure may be building on the women to backtrack. Whatever may be the outcome of the probe, this is an opportunity to address serious issues regarding safety of and basic amenities for women at the workplace.
In a country where humiliation for women begins from schools and carries on in colleges with meagre toilet facilities and no scope to dump sanitary napkins, it is expected that offices would treat them differently. As per definition, SEZ is a deemed foreign territory, treated so for the purpose of enhanced industrial, service and trade operations. When the effort is to create an internationally benchmarked environment, incidents where women workers are given a raw deal at the workplace have no place in an SEZ. To keep things in perspective, the onus also falls on the authorities to ensure that this incident does not allow trade unionism to seep into the SEZ, as Kerala can ill afford such a development.
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