German National Volunteering For NGO Moves Kerala High Court Alleging Sexual Harassment BY NGO’s General Secretary
(Judicial Quest News Network)
A German national moves Kerala High Court on Tuesday seeking initiation of criminal proceedings against the General Secretary of Sister Hatune Foundation, Asia Sector, for various criminal offences committed by him, including the offence of sexual Harassment.
The Kerala High on Tuesday issued notice to the general secretary of the Asian Sector headquarters of the Sister Hatune Foundation on the plea which sought initiation of criminal proceedings based on the sexualharassment volunteer teacher.
Justice N Nagaresh also stayed the nullification of her visa and the exit permit which was issued to the German national who was doing honorary work at the NGO.
The Court, in this regard also issued notice to the Central Government, the Commissioner, Bureau of Immigration and the Foreigners regional Registration Officer.
The petitioner is a renowned coach for students in schools. Petitioner has been coordinating conferences on child care.
The petitioner organises workshops for children in government schools and leads them to better self-confidence. The very nature of the petitioner is to give guidance and motivation to downtrodden children, so they can achieve heights in their life. Similarly, she works with the camera well and good listener to people and gives them strength in their day-to-day life.
The General Secretary of the foundation, one Aleyas, had issued a latter of non-gratuitous employment and petitioner came to India on a work visa which was due to expire only in April 2023.
The petitioner was made to believe that she has to work without any remuneration since the school is working without any fees and is run by Sister Hatune Foundation. Sister Hatune presented herself as a Nun as part of the Syrian Orthodox Church and as such on a gentleman’s agreement petitioner came to India without signing any formal contract. However, The Sister Hatune foundation issued a letter to the petitioner to obtain a visa for honorary work on 21.01.2022.
It was alleged by the petitioner that these promises were not adhered to in the slightest and the quality of the food and water as well as living conditions was extremely poor and unhygienic.
Pertinently, she alleged that Aleyas misbehaved with her and made sexual advances at her and that many girl students at the school also told her about similar experiences.
She further argued that Aleyas was also collecting fees from the students which were not something that was contemplated by the foundation.
When she objected to these and tried to disclose the same, the general secretary allegedly fabricated a termination letter and sent it to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO)
She also submitted that the officer’s concerned, without conducting an enquiry or issuing any previous notice, cancelled her visa and issued an exit permit, without any formal speaking order.
The plea moved through Advocate Raghul Sudheeshan thus seeks a direction to the Central Government and the Bureau of Immigration to initiate an enquiry into the validity of the alleged termination of her service and also to initiate proceedings against the general Secretary for the various criminal offences committed by him.
The Court has issued notices to the General Secretary of the NGO, the Central Government, the Commissioner, Bureau of immigration and the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer.
