Internal Complaints Committee
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) ACT, 2013 (“Prevention of Workplace Sexual Harassment Act”) was made effective from December 09, 2013 by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, India. The Prevention of Workplace Sexual Harassment Act requires an employer to set up an ‘Internal Complaints Committee’ (“ICC”) at each office or branch, of an organization employing 10 or more employees, to hear and redress grievances pertaining to sexual harassment. In pursuance of UGC (Prevention, prohibition and redressal of sexual harassment of women employees and students in higher educational institutions)
WHO CAN APPROACH THE ICC?
Any employee/students/anybody in the campus of VVFGC
DEFINITION OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
According to the ACT, sexual harassment is defined as “unwelcome sexually determined behavior such as”
- Physical contact, and making advances
- A demand or request for sexual favors
- Sexually oriented remarks
- Showing pornography
- Use of electronic media (phone, internet, intranet) for perpetrating any of the above
- Any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature
In short, the definition of sexual harassment is broad enough to include all kinds of offensive, hostile, intimidating, humiliating and exploitative language, gestures and conduct.
