who is a whistleblower?

A whistleblower is a person who brings attention to illegal, unethical, or fraudulent activity within an organization. A whistleblower may be an employee, former employee, or even a customer of an organization who has knowledge of misconduct within the company.

The types of misconduct that whistleblowers typically report can include financial fraud, accounting fraud, insider trading, violation of securities laws, violation of environmental laws, violation of consumer protection laws, violation of labor laws, violation of workplace safety laws, and even gross mismanagement or waste of public funds.

In many cases, whistleblowers bring attention to misconduct that the organization's management may be aware of but has failed to address. In order to encourage people to come forward and report misconduct, many countries, including India, have laws in place to protect whistleblowers from retaliation by their employer.

In India, The Whistleblower Protection Bill, 2011 was passed by the Lok Sabha in February 2014, which protect whistleblowers from retaliation, whether by dismissal, demotion, harassment, or discrimination. Furthermore, SEBI also has provisions for the protection of whistleblowers reporting violation of securities laws.

It's worth noting that the process of whistleblowing is considered a last resort, and people are encouraged to use internal channels to report misconduct and seek resolution before going public. However, whistleblowers may choose to remain anonymous, and many organizations have procedures in place to allow for anonymous reporting.