FICCI FLO, under the leadership of the 43rd National President, Puja Garg, hosted a highly relevant and empowering webinar, “Know Your 2 A.M. Rights,” under its FLO Legal Advocacy Initiative. The virtual session focused on empowering women by equipping them with the knowledge of legal rights in handling difficult situations. 2 A.M. Rights, coined by Mrs. Naina Kidwai, consists of four pillars: freedom, safety, equality, and dignity for women in both professional and public spaces.
Prof. Dr. Shashikala Gupur, Director at Symbiosis Law School, Pune, and a Fulbright Scholar and AHRC Fellow (U.K), led a meaningful session for FLO members, addressing different challenges women face at their homes and workplaces, such as unequal pay, sexual harassment, and a lack of representation in leadership positions.
Professor Gupur stressed the importance of taking immediate action, like filing a police complaint when facing difficult situations, such as cybercrime, online stalking, domestic violence, financial fraud, and identity theft. She shared effective measures for preventing sexual harassment at the workplace, such as seeking help through the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and the SheBox portal, which allows women to register complaints in organizations with fewer than 10 employees.
Then, Professor Gupur discussed handling cyberfrauds by filing a complaint with a local cybercrime police station or an online cybercrime portal. Also, you can take help from Cybercell in situations, like a bank account being hacked after sharing OTP by mistake, impersonation of your company online, deepfake attacks, and digital arrests. The sooner you report the fraud to the Cybercrime portal, the higher the chances that the receiving account can be frozen before the money is withdrawn.
Then, Professor Shashikala Gupur continued the discussion by urging women to support their housemaids who are the victims of domestic violence. If you notice visible bruises and injuries on your domestic helper, then you can approach the police and report the domestic violence incident while preserving evidence and ensuring her immediate safety. Also, a recorded video on a mobile phone can be used as evidence. Women need to share the video’s original file and its metadata with the authorities to ensure its authenticity.
Around 217 FLO members benefited from the Know Your 2 A.M. Rights webinar as they learned about women’s legal rights covering cybersecurity, workplace harassment, and domestic violence. This session was conceptualized under the FLO Legal Advocacy initiative, led by Divya Abhishek, Initiative Lead, and Shubhraa Maheswari, Initiative Co-Lead, who are dedicated to supporting women through legal literacy sessions and workshops.