New Delhi, Sept. 19 -- Women lawyers cannot be denied their remedy against sexual harassment at the workplace, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Friday amid a long standing demand by women legal practitioners for setting up internal complaints committees across courts, tribunals and bar councils. So far, denial was based on the claim that no "employer-employee" relationship exists between a lawyer and a bar council. In an affidavit filed in a petition where the top court is considering this issue, the ministry of women and child development said, "Since the statutory framework of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 or POSH act does not expressly exclude women advocates from its ambit, women advocates are entitled to avail the protections and remedies envisaged under the Act." The affidavit was filed in a plea by lawyer Seema Joshi, challenging a July 2025 Bombay high court decision that refused to allow women lawyers to approach state bar councils under the Act, citing the lack of an "employer-employee" relationship. The Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) later intervened and filed a petition demanding extension of POSH act to women lawyers across the country. To this extent, Centre's affidavit, earlier this week, stated that the term "aggrieved woman" under section 2(a) of the act will cover women advocates as the definition "dispenses with a rigid employer-employee" requirement and extends statutory protection based on their "presence at or connection with a workplace". However, the Centre left it to the court to determine the appropriate institutional framework for grievance redressal. A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and AG Masih took the affidavit on record and said that regulations must first be put in place, as the POSH act cannot be applied in a "straitjacket" manner to all women practising before courts, tribunals and other quasi-judicial forums....