Delhi High Court
Delhi High Court [Representational Image]Flickr

A group of people have moved Delhi High Court for an issue related to the #MeToo campaign seeking to restrain the accuser from airing her alleged case on social media or any other platform. These people are facing allegations of sexual harassment.

Both the sides were directed by a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice VK Rao to refrain from commenting on the issue or revealing identities of those involved on social media.

They have been restricted by the court from giving interviews to media organisations regarding the inter-se dispute. The court has also restrained any third party from broadcasting their opinion on the issue on social media.

After an application moved by the private persons, against whom the woman – a journalist – had pointed allegations of sexual harassment, came the order from the court. The application stated that the woman was disclosing identities of people involved in the matter despite a high court order to the contrary.

The woman had said that she was sexually harassed while working with an online news portal. Her complaint of sexual harassment was rejected by the internal complaints committee of the portal, after which she had moved the high court last year. The high court had then ordered that identities of all persons involved in the matter be kept confidential.

But she took to Twitter and Facebook during the #MeToo movement to share her case and named all those involved in the matter.

The campaign began as #MeToo on Twitter in 2017 amid the case, where the noted Hollywood producer, Harvey Weinstein, was accused of sexual harassment by about 70 women.

In India, the movement gained popularity after former AIB comedian Utsav Chakraborty was accused of sexual harassment by a writer and fellow comic, who also stated that the company had not taken any action regardless of her complaints. Since then, several women have come out bravely by sharing their stories about harassment and sexual abuse at the hands of the powerful and higher-ups at workplace.