Govt received 141 sexual harassment complaints last year: Parliament

The central ministries have received as many as 141 sexual harassment complaints since last year, out of which 45 have been disposed of, the Rajya Sabha was informed Friday.

The highest number of complaints were received by the Finance Ministry at 21, followed by the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Defence at 16, Minister of State for the Women and Child Development Ministry Virendra Kumar told the Rajya Sabha Friday.

Out of the 141 complaints, 45 of them have been disposed of, he said.

The Ministry of Railways received 14 complaints, while the Women and Child Development Ministry received 12, Kumar said.

The number of sexual harassment complaints received in private sectors since last year are 169 , out of which 29 have been disposed of.

The highest number of complaints were received from Maharashtra at 33, he said.

Kumar also said that all the ministries and the departments of the government have been requested to organise workshops and awareness programmes about matter related to sexual harassment at workplace and legal provisions and redressal mechanisms.

"Besides, all state governments/Union Territories administrations have also been requested to advise their secretaries of Industries and Commerce departments to organise similar workshops and awareness programmes in industries, business houses and private sector entities in the states/UTs," he said.