{"id":1487,"date":"2026-07-20T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T10:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/?p=1487"},"modified":"2026-07-27T10:00:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T10:00:24","slug":"sexual-harassment-of-women-at-workplace-act-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/20\/sexual-harassment-of-women-at-workplace-act-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

About<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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  • The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act) was passed by the Parliament to provide a statutory framework for the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace<\/strong>, ensuring a safe and secure working environment for women.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The act superseded Vishakha Guidelines <\/strong>laid down by the Supreme Court <\/strong>in 1997.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Act applies to all workplaces<\/strong>, including government, private, and non-governmental organizations<\/strong>, as well as any organization, institution, undertaking, or establishment.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Major Provisions of the Act<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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    • Definition: <\/strong>The Act defines sexual harassment<\/strong> to include unwelcome acts such as physical contact and sexual advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal, or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Internal Complaints Committee (ICC): <\/strong>The Act mandates every workplace employing more than ten persons<\/strong> to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee.<\/strong> This committee is responsible for addressing complaints of sexual harassment and ensuring a safe working environment.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Local <\/strong>Complaints<\/strong> Committee (LCC):<\/strong> Every district<\/strong> will have a Local Complaints Committee<\/strong> so as to enable women in the unorganised sector or small establishments to work in an environment free of sexual harassment. The LCC will receive complaints:\u00a0\n
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      • From women working in an organisation having less than 10 workers;<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • When the complaint is against the employer himself;<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • From women working in unorganized sectors <\/strong>like domestic workers.\u00a0\n
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        • All Complaints Committees must have 50 per cent representation of women.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Timeframe:<\/strong> The complaint should be filed within three months<\/strong> from the date of the incident of sexual harassment or within three months of the last incident<\/strong>, in case of a series of incidents.\u00a0\n
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          • The committee is required to complete the inquiry within 90 days<\/strong> from the date of receipt of the complaint. However, if there are valid reasons, the time limit may be extended for an additional period, not exceeding 90 days.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Confidentiality: <\/strong>The Act mandates that the proceedings<\/strong> of the inquiry and the identity <\/strong>of the parties involved should be kept confidential.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Protection Against False Complaints:<\/strong> The Act provides for penalizing the complainant<\/strong> if the complaint is found to be false with malicious intent.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Appeal: <\/strong>If either party is dissatisfied with the decision of the ICC\/LCC or the action taken by the employer, they may appeal to the appropriate authority, <\/strong>as notified by the State Government.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            SHe-Box<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/mark><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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            • The Ministry of Women and Child Development<\/strong> developed the Sexual Harassment Electronic Box (SHe-Box) in 2017 to facilitate the registration of complaints related to sexual harassment of women at work place.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 About Major Provisions of the Act SHe-Box<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-polity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1488,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487\/revisions\/1488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/materials.simplycurrentaffairs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}