Anti-Sexual Harassment/Women’s Grievance Redressal Committee

The Ministry of Law & Justice under Government of India had formulated a law in 2013 to ensure a safe working environment for women and also to monitor any incidents of sexual harassment at workplace. This Act may be noted as ‘Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013’, and is applicable to the whole of India. [Copy of Gazette]

The Section 2(n) of this Act describes ‘sexual harassment’ to include any one or more of the following:

i. Physical contact and advances; or

ii. A demand or request for sexual favours; or

iii. Making sexually coloured remarks; or

iv. Showing pornography; or

v. Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non verbal conduct of sexual nature.

In addition, the following may also be considered as means of aiding ‘Sexual Harassment’:

a. Use of electronic media (phone, internet, intranet) for perpetrating any of the above.

b. Any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.

In view of the above points, an Internal Committee named as ‘Women’s Grievance Redressal Committee’ has been constituted to prevent Sexual Harassment of women staff/students at DDM-CP, and has been outlined below:

The overall objectives of the above Internal Committee are:

1. Do not promote any hierarchical oppression based on gender inequality.
2. Prevent any biased attitude regarding the assessment of work-efficiency based on gender.
3. Safeguard the fundamental rights of a woman.
4. Treat sexual harassment at workplace as a serious misconduct.
5. Initiate appropriate punitive measures (including legal actions) for such misconduct.
6. Assist the aggrieved woman to formally lodge a complaint.
7. Educate the staff/students concerning sexual harassment.

The Internal Committee would be responsible for investigating any formal complaint of sexual harassment (given in written form), and would take appropriate measures to respond to any confirmed allegations of sexual harassment. The steps regarding corrective measures would be:

• As per the provisions of Section 11 of the Act, 2013, the Internal Committee would delve into the complaints.
• The Internal Committee may give recommendations as necessary as per Section 12 of the Act, 2013.
• Based on the recommendations of the Internal Committee, appropriate action would be initiated by the Competent Authority.

For any query/complaints involving ‘Prevention of Sexual Harassment’, write to: principalddm@gmail.com.