{"id":56956,"date":"2025-07-27T14:23:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T08:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=56956"},"modified":"2025-07-28T12:31:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T07:01:22","slug":"understanding-indias-internal-complaints-committees-laws-powers-and-implementation-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/understanding-indias-internal-complaints-committees-laws-powers-and-implementation-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding India\u2019s Internal Complaints Committees: Laws, Powers, and Implementation Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Internal Complaints Committee Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A student in Balasore, Odisha, died by self-immolation after her sexual harassment complaints against the head of her department were dismissed by the college\u2019s Internal Complaints Committee (ICC).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Her family alleges that the ICC lacked proper training and operated in a biased environment that favoured the accused, raising serious concerns about the effectiveness and neutrality of institutional grievance redressal systems.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Legal Framework Behind ICCs: From Vishaka Guidelines to the POSH Act<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The foundation for Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) was laid by the Supreme Court in 1997 through the Vishaka Guidelines, following the gang-rape of Bhanwari Devi, a social worker in Rajasthan.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These guidelines defined sexual harassment at the workplace and mandated the creation of complaint committees to address such cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each committee was to be headed by a woman, include at least 50% women members, and involve an external third party to ensure fairness.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, these guidelines remained advisory until the 2012 Nirbhaya case prompted legislative action.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This led to the enactment of the <\/span><b>Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, commonly known as the POSH Act.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Act made it <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mandatory for all workplaces with more than 10 employees to establish ICCs<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also ensured that women in smaller or informal workplaces could seek redress through Local Committees formed by district authorities.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Powers and Responsibilities of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC)<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ICC, mandated under the POSH Act, is empowered to address complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It must be <\/span><b>headed by a senior woman employee<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as the Presiding Officer, and should include at least two internal members with experience in social work, legal knowledge, or commitment to women&#8217;s causes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Additionally, one member must be an external expert, typically from an NGO or with knowledge of sexual harassment issues. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Half of the ICC members must be women<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Process of Filing Complaints<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Any aggrieved woman can submit a written complaint within three months of the incident.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Upon receiving the complaint, the ICC can either initiate an inquiry or help settle the matter, if the complainant requests.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>committee enjoys civil court powers under the Code of Civil Procedure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, allowing it to summon witnesses, examine evidence, and conduct proceedings accordingly.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It must <\/span><b>complete the inquiry within 90 days<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and recommend appropriate action if the complaint is upheld.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The employer is also obligated to assist the complainant in filing a criminal case if she chooses to do so.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strict confidentiality is mandated by law\u2014covering the identity of the complainant, accused, witnesses, and details of the proceedings or recommendations\u2014to protect the privacy of all parties involved.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Poor Implementation of the POSH Act<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even after ten years since the enactment of the POSH Act, the implementation of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) remains patchy and inadequate across institutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December 2024, the Supreme Court expressed concern over the &#8220;serious lapses&#8221; in enforcement, calling the state of affairs \u201cdisquieting\u201d and ordering immediate compliance across both public and private sectors.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Activists pointed out that although ICCs exist in some places, they <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">often lack training, maintain no confidentiality, and fail to address workplace power imbalances<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014rendering them ineffective.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They criticised the lack of coordination between ministries\u2014where the <\/span><b>Women and Child Development Ministry oversees the Act, but actual employers fall under the Labour and Industries Ministries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This disconnect has resulted in little to no monitoring or analysis of the law&#8217;s functioning, leaving a \u201cblack hole\u201d in accountability and data.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The recent Balasore case underscores how ICCs, without proper structure and enforcement, are reduced to being symbolic rather than functional bodies.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/how-do-internal-complaints-committees-work-explained\/article69859533.ece#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20several%20legislations,employed%20more%20than%2010%20people.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TH<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cag.gov.in\/uploads\/subsite_whats_new\/Internal-Complaints-Committee-066d6a9d4685f48-60713028.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CAG<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn about the role, powers, and shortcomings of Internal Complaints Committees under India\u2019s POSH Act, following recent controversies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":57081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1834,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-56956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-internal-complaints-committee","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}