Harassment

Sexual Harassment is the “behavioral execution of a defective, discriminating, imposing mentality to cause discomfort, shame and insult.”

Sexual harassment of a woman in workplace is of serious concern to humanity on the whole. It cannot be construed to be in a narrow sense, as it may include sexual advances and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. The victims of sexual harassment face psychological and health effects like stress, depression, anxiety, shame, guilt and so on.

In this regard, to tackle the problem of sexual harassment, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (“Ministry”), by a Notification dated December 9, 2013 passed the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (the “Act”) which became effective from December 9, 2013. The Ministry also made the rules with regard to the same effective from the same date. These rules are called the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 (the “Rules”).

Internal Complaint Committee

All workplaces that have 10 employees or more are required to constitute an Internal  Committee (“IC”), as per the Act which provides that where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places or divisional or sub-divisional level, the IC shall have to be constituted at all administrative units or offices.

The Act provides for a minimum of four members for the IC and states that half of IC members will necessarily have to be women and that among the four members, a presiding officer for IC will have to be appointed, and it will have to be a woman at a senior level in that office.

IC for Serpent Group of Companies :

Dhwani Vora (COO)

Priyanka Radiya (HR)

Husen Daudi (MD)

Jay Vora (MD)

Grievance Redressal Mechanism in case of a complaint:

Any aggrieved woman can file a complaint of sexual harassment to IC within 3 months of the incident. The period within which one can file the complaint can also be extended to another period of three months. Also, where the aggrieved woman is unable to make a complaint due to her physical incapacity, her legal heir, relative or friend, co-worker, an officer of the National Commission for Women or State Women’s Commission may make a complaint to the IC on her behalf, with her permission. Also, if the woman is suffering from mental incapacity, a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist or the guardian or authority under whose care she is receiving treatment or care, can file a complaint before the IC.

IC, before it initiates inquiry, may try to concile between the parties, if the aggrieved woman requests but monetary settlement cannot be the basis of conciliation. If conciliation is not possible, IC will inquire into the complaint and give both parties a chance to be heard and complete the inquiry in 90 days. During the inquiry process of being heard, neither party will be allowed to bring their lawyer.

Post inquiry, IC will have to prepare an inquiry report giving recommendations on the matter, in 10 days, and give a copy of the same to the organization / company and the concerned parties. The organization / company will have to act on the recommendations in 60 days. The Act also provides that if a victim is dissatisfied with the findings of IC, she can appeal to a Court / tribunal. IC has been assigned with the responsibility to submit an annual report on the no. of cases that arose and got settled during the year to the company and the company further has been mandated to include this information in its annual report and in cases of companies which do not prepare annual report, the companies are required to intimate such number of cases to the District Officer.

The Complaints Committees have the powers of civil courts for gathering evidence.

The Complaints Committees are required to provide for conciliation before initiating an inquiry, if requested by the complainant.

The inquiry process under the Act should be confidential and the Act lays down a penalty of Rs 5000 on the person who has breached confidentiality.

The Act requires employers to conduct education and sensitization programmes and develop policies against sexual harassment, among other obligations.

Penalties have been prescribed for employers. Non-compliance with the provisions of the Act shall be punishable with a fine of up to ₹ 50,000. Repeated violations may lead to higher penalties and cancellation of license or registration to conduct business.

Government can order an officer to inspect workplace and records related to sexual harassment in any organisation.

Under the Act, which also covers students in schools and colleges as well as patients in hospitals, employers and local authorities will have to set up grievance committees to investigate all complaints. Employers who fail to comply will be punished with a fine of up to 50,000 INR.

Through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, Section 354 was added to the Indian Penal Code that stipulates what consists of a sexual harassment offense and what the penalties shall be for a man committing such an offense. Penalties range from one to three years imprisonment and/or a fine. Additionally, with sexual harassment being a crime, employers are obligated to report offenses.