Panaji, Jan 3 (IANS): A media union has organised a workshop on sexual harassment for journalists in Goa, over a month after the drama of the case of sexual harassment against Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal played out in the state.

Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) president Kishor Naik Gaonkar told IANS the workshop was necessary, in light of the amendments to "the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, and the accusations of alleged sexual harassment at workplace and rape against Tejpal by a junior colleague had worked as an 'eye opener' to the journalist fraternity in Goa, which were witnesses to Tejpal dramatic arrest and the subsequent trial".

"Both men and women journalists in Goa need to understand what the new law and its statutes mean and what's accepted behaviour and what is not at a workplace. The workshop would go a long way in ensuring that sexual harassment is kept at bay in Goa's media houses," Gaonkar said.

The workshop will be conducted Jan 7. Albertina Almedia, one of Goa's leading women's rights lawyers, will discuss and explain the contours of the new law threadbare.

"The workshop is necessary considering that in the past the behaviour of some senior members of the fraternity in the state towards female journalists has come under question. Such actions now have a criminal implication like in the Tejpal case," Gaonkar said.

Tejpal was arrested November 2013 after a junior colleague complained that he had sexually assaulted her in a lift in a Goa hotel during an event organised by the magazine.