Highlight the importance of "Vishaka Judgement" in enactment of "The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013".

The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Constitution, in its Preamble, fundamental rights, fundamental duties and Directive Principles. However, workplace sexual harassment in India, was for the very first time recognized by the Supreme Court of India in its landmark judgment of Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, 1997 6 SCC 241: AIR 1997 SC 3011 ("Vishaka Judgment") , wherein the Supreme Court framed certain guidelines and issued directions to the Union of India to enact an appropriate law for combating workplace sexual harassment. In the absence of a specific law in India, the Supreme Court, in the Vishaka Judgment, laid down certain guidelines making it mandatory for every employer to provide a mechanism to redress grievances pertaining to workplace sexual harassment. ("Vishaka Guidelines") which were being followed by employers until the enactment of the Act. The Vishaka judgment initiated a nationwide discourse on workplace sexual harassment and threw out wide open an issue that was swept under the carpet for the longest time. The first case before the Supreme Court after Vishaka in this respect was the case of Apparel Export Promotion Council v. A.K Chopra, (1999) 1 SCC 759 . In this case, the Supreme Court reiterated the law laid down in the Vishaka Judgment and upheld the dismissal of a superior officer of the Delhi based Apparel Export Promotion Council who was found guilty of sexually harassing a subordinate female employee at the workplace. In light of the above judgment, the very first efforts, towards implementing a law for protection of women from sexual harassment at workplace, were taken in 2007 when the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2007, was introduced in the Parliament. However, this Bill never saw the light of the day. On December 7, 2010, the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Work Place Bill, 2010 (the "Original Bill") was introduced in Lok Sabha and was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, led by Shri Oscar Fernandes ("Standing Committee"), on December 30, 2010 for examination, and the Standing Committee came out with its report in December, 2011. Further to the report, subsequent changes were made to the Original Bill, including to the title of the Bill, which was changed to Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2013 (the "Bill"). India's first legislation specifically addressing the issue of workplace sexual harassment; the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 ("POSH Act") was enacted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, India in 2013-after 16 years of the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Vishaka & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. (1997 (7) SCC 323) . The Act came into force w.e.f. 9th December, 2013.