# Supreme Court asks for separate sexual harassment rules for women lawyers

2026-09-19T00:16:49+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 3 independent outlets

The Supreme Court on Friday said the POSH Act cannot be applied in a straitjacket manner to women advocates and called for a separate regulatory framework covering high courts, district courts, tribunals and quasi-judicial authorities across the country. A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih noted that the existing gender sensitisation regulations apply only to the Supreme Court precincts. The court asked the Bar Council of India, the Centre and other parties to hold a joint consultation and draft a uniform set of regulations, modelled on the Supreme Court's own 2013 regulations. The bench also directed the BCI to find out whether state bar councils have any extant rules. The matter will be heard next on November 25.

## Indian Opinion Analysis

All three sources report the court's core direction neutrally, but Bar & Bench and LiveLaw include Justice Nagarathna's specific suggestion that high court and district court regulations could simply replicate the Supreme Court model by substituting names. India Today omits that detail, leading with the court's November 25 hearing date instead. The critical legal question the court flagged is that the POSH Act assumes an employer-employee relationship, which does not exist between a senior and junior advocate. The next hearing will test whether the proposed framework resolves that structural gap.

## Coverage

- barandbench.com (neutral report) <https://www.barandbench.com/news/can-posh-act-cover-women-lawyers-what-supreme-court-suggested>
  Leads with the court's observation and quotes the order verbatim, no editorial slant.
- indiatoday.in (neutral report) <https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/supreme-court-seeks-uniform-posh-rules-for-women-lawyers-across-courts-ptag-2997991-2026-09-18?utm_source=rss>
  Straight news report, adds the next hearing date and context of the 2025 plea.
- livelaw.in (neutral report) <https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-urges-centre-bci-to-frame-regulations-for-sexual-harassment-complaints-by-women-lawyers-in-all-courts-550728>
  Includes detailed quotes and procedural history, no judgement or slant.

Tags: B V Nagarathna, Bar Council of India, POSH Act, Supreme Court
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