Now ministry panel to keep tab on workplace sexual harassment cases

The Union Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry on Wednesday announced it is setting up an inter-ministerial committee to review the progress of disposal of complaints of sexual harassment of women at workplace.

The decision came after WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi earlier in the day held a meeting to review implementation of the law relating to sexual harassment of women at workplaces and expressed her concern over its "inadequate implementation".

Besides tendering a monthly report to the WCD Ministry on the number of sexual harassment complaints received and action taken on them, all the ministries and attached offices will be required to furnish the annual statistics of complaints received and disposed of in their annual reports, the WCD Ministry said.

The WCD Ministry will also set up a secure electronic platform enabling any woman government employee to file a complaint of sexual harassment directly to the WCD Ministry.

To be headed by a senior WCD Ministry official, the committee will ensure that heads of Internal Complaints Committee of all ministries/departments are given training on how to handle the complaints.

--IANS

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