The Wayanad Literature Festival aims to provide a safe space for all participants, free from sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse. The following recommendations are made to achieve this end:

1) According to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, and the subsequent Me Too movement on sexual harassment that may occur in any organisations/gatherings the organizers of WLF treat the issue with utmost seriousness in the organising and conduct of the Wayanad Literature Festival.

2) The festival pledges zero-tolerance of any or all harassment and intimidation of a sexual, physical, verbal, emotional or any other nature, based on gender, sexual orientation, age, appearance, marital status, religion, ability or any other reason at any time of day or night, at any of the festival gatherings/premises.

Should the Festival receive complaints of harassment or intimidation, the Festival reserves the right to terminate any/all association with the individual/s, following an internal review process..

Should the Festival receive complaints of harassment or intimidation, and there is prima facie substance in the allegation/s, the Festival reserves the right to suspend any/all association with the individual/s, pending an internal review process.

To register complaints and bring issues to the notice of the sexual harassment committee, please write to [email protected]

3) The committee also deliberated on what the official position of WLF should be in situations a speaker has been named as an harasser. The below mentioned process will be followed in such cases:
a. If a case is pending in a court, WLF will wait till the legal procedure is completed, and a decision is reached by the court before inviting the person as a speaker.

b. In case the speaker/author has been named by the victim publicly, and a POSH committee has reached a decision on it then that decision with a cooling period of one year will be enforced by WLF.

c. If the accuser has not initiated any proceedings against the harasser after naming him, then for a period of one year after the naming, he will not be hosted by WLF.

d. Only after the named person has been acquitted by a court of law and the final appellate process has been exhausted, will the festival takes the court’s decision as binding on WLF. An accuser pending appeal will not be hosted by WLF.

POSH COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Adv Sindu Sebastian, Raeesa PC, Leena Reghunath and VH Nishad