'Dispose off sexual harassment cases within 30 days'

The central government on Wednesday asked its various departments and ministries to dispose off within 30 days the cases related to sexual harassment of women at workplaces.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) issued fresh guidelines on the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act and said that under no circumstances should the cases take more than 90 days.

The new guidelines were issued after a review meeting headed by Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Maneka Gandhi on October 26.

Among other guidelines, the government also noted that ministries and departments should ensure that a complainant was not victimized after she files her complaint.

If a complainant alleges victimisation her complaint should be disposed off within 15 days, it said.

"Brief details of the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act including the number of cases received and disposed shall form a part of annual reports of all ministries, departments and authorities," the ministry said.

They have also been asked to submit a monthly progress report to the ministry over the issue.

--IANS

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