Workplace and campus
The POSH Act, Internal Committees, and how to complain at work or college.
This page is being checked by a lawyer. Use it as general information for now.
The POSH Act is the 2013 law against sexual harassment of women at work. Its full name is the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act. It gives you a way to complain inside your workplace or college, without going to the police.
You can use this route, the police, or both. Sexual harassment is also a crime. A complaint to a committee does not stop you from filing an FIR, and your employer must help you if you want to.
Who it protects
Any woman, of any age, who is harassed at a workplace. You do not have to be an employee. It covers staff, interns, trainees, domestic workers, students, patients and visitors.
“Workplace” is wide. It includes offices, shops, hospitals, schools, colleges, a home where someone is employed, and travel for work.
What counts as sexual harassment
Any of these, when it is unwelcome:
- Physical contact or advances
- Asking for sexual favours
- Sexual remarks or jokes
- Showing pornography
- Any other unwelcome sexual behaviour, in words, messages or actions
It also counts when someone links it to your job or studies: a promise of better treatment, a threat to your marks or position, or making the place hostile for you.
Internal Committees
- Every workplace with 10 or more employees must have an Internal Committee. Many people still call it the ICC. It is led by a senior woman, at least half its members are women, and one member comes from outside the organisation
- If there are fewer than 10 employees, or your complaint is against the employer, you go to the Local Committee for your district instead. This is also the route for domestic workers
- Colleges and universities must have an Internal Complaints Committee under University Grants Commission rules. At Panjab University it is called PUCASH, the Panjab University Committee Against Sexual Harassment
How to complain
- Put it in writing. Say what happened, when and where, and who was there. The committee must help you write it if you need help
- Do it within 3 months of the incident, or of the last incident if there were several. The committee can allow up to 3 more months if you had a good reason for the delay
- The committee must finish its inquiry within 90 days
- While the inquiry runs you can ask for a transfer, yours or theirs, or for leave
- Your name and the details of the complaint must be kept confidential
You can also file online on the government’s SHe-Box portal: shebox.wcd.gov.in.
Keep a record whatever you decide: dates, what was said or done, screenshots, and who saw it.
If you are under 18, a man, or transgender
- Under 18: sexual harassment of a child is covered by POCSO, and adults who know must report it. Read the under-18 page. At school, tell the counsellor or the school’s sexual harassment committee
- Men and transgender people: the POSH Act itself protects women. UGC rules ask colleges to act on harassment of students of any gender, and many employers have policies that cover everyone. Ask to see yours
Where this comes from
For lawyers and counsellors checking this page.
| Point | Source |
|---|---|
| Who is protected; what a workplace is; what counts | POSH Act 2013, ss. 2(a), 2(n), 2(o), 3 |
| Internal Committee and its members | s. 4 |
| Local Committee | ss. 5, 6 |
| Written complaint, 3 months, extension, help with writing | s. 9 |
| Transfer or leave during inquiry | s. 12 |
| Inquiry within 90 days | s. 11(4) |
| Confidentiality | s. 16 |
| Employer must help with a police complaint | s. 19(g) |
| Colleges and universities | UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations 2015 |
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