Calling an Indian-origin woman ‘aunty’ in London proved costly for a colleague. On the complaint of the woman, the court considered it harassment and ordered the NHS Trust to pay compensation of about Rs 2 lakh. This amount will be recovered from the accused colleague.
Here, especially in cities like Bengaluru, it is very common to call any woman ‘Aunty’. Some people consider it a way of showing respect, while others do it to show their age. But many women do not like it at all, especially when an older man calls them ‘Aunty’. This is often debated on social media also.
Compensation of Rs 2 lakh
Now a similar case has come to light, where calling ‘Aunty’ proved costly for a person. He had to pay a compensation of about Rs 2 lakh. The court clearly said that calling someone ‘aunty’ like this is equivalent to harassment. So now it is better to be a little careful before calling someone ‘Aunty’. By the way, this matter is not of India, but of London. But the woman who won the case is of Indian origin. This 61-year-old woman had earlier forbidden her colleague from calling her ‘Aunty’, but he did not agree.
Where did the incident happen?
This incident is from London. Estives, an Indian-origin health assistant working in the National Health Service (NHS), filed a harassment case against one of her nurse colleagues in the local court and won. Judge George Eliot of Watford Employment Tribunal ruled that this amounted to harassment on the basis of age and sex. He ordered West London NHS Trust to pay a total compensation of 1,425.15 pounds (about Rs 2 lakh) for ‘hurting the sentiments’ of the woman. Now the trust will recover this amount from that nurse, Charles Oppong.
considered equivalent to harassment
This case was filed last year. A bench of three judges investigated the matter. The bench also acknowledged that in the culture of Ghana, the home country of nurse Charles Oppong, the word ‘aunty’ is a sign of respect for elders. However, the court said that Charles was in a responsible post like leading the teams in the ward, so he was wrong to say so. “We think that Charles Oppong’s intention was probably to make a crude joke,” the decision said.