SC widens ambit of sexual harassment at workplace Act

The Supreme Court has ruled that proceedings under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act can be initiated not only at the department where the accused employee works but also at the workplace of the complainant and at any site visited by the employee in the course of employment, ina judgment that significantly strengthens workplace-safety protection for women.

- Utkarsh Anand

Settling a longstanding legal ambiguity, a bench of justices JK Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi rejected the argument that an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) can inquire into a complaint only if it is constituted in the accused employee's own department.

Any narrower interpretation, the court said, would erect fresh “procedural and psychological barriers” for aggrieved women, forcing them to pursue complaints in unfamiliar offices and undermining the POSH Act's social-welfare purpose.