29 states/UT constituted committees to look into sexual harassment cases: WCD

As many as 29 states and Union territories have constituted local complaints committees to look into cases of sexual harassment at workplace, Women and Child Development Minister of State Virendra Kumar has informed the Parliament.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 came into force on 9th December 2013.

The Act covers all women, irrespective of their age or employment status and protects them against sexual harassment at all workplaces both in public and private sector, whether organised or unorganised, he said in a statement.

It mandates all the workplace having more than 10 workers to constitute Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) for receiving complaints of sexual harassment, the minister said.

Similarly, the appropriate government is authorised to constitute Local Complaint Committee (LCC) in every district which will receive complaints from organisations having less than 10 workers or if the complaint is against the employer himself, he said.

So far, 29 states and Union territories have constituted Local Complaint Committee under Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the ministry quoted Kumar as saying in the statement.

"Ministry of Women and Child Development issues advisories from time to time to all states and union territories and leading business organisation like Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Society, Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCI), and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) to ensure effective implementation of the Act," he told Lok Sabha in response to a question.

The Ministry said it has launched an online complaint management system titled Sexual Harassment electronicBox (SHe-Box) for registering complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace of all women employees in the country, including government and private employees.

Apart from the above, in order to create widespread awareness about the Act across the country, both in organised and unorganised sectors, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has identified a pool of 223 resource institutions to provide capacity building programmes i.e. training, workshops on the issue of sexual harassment at workplace.