• The Ministry of Women and Child Development recently launched the SHe-Box portal, an online system designed to help in better implementation of various provisions of ‘The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013’ (also known as POSH Act).

• This Act mandates the appropriate government to monitor its implementation and maintain data on the number of cases filed and disposed of.

• The complaint registration system is live with effect from October 19, 2024 after on-boarding of maximum number of central ministries/departments. Since then, a total of nine complaints have been received on the portal.

POSH Act

• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act came into force with effect from December 9, 2013. Known as the POSH Act, it seeks to cover all women, irrespective of their age or employment status, and protect them against sexual harassment at all workplaces both in public and private sector, whether organised or unorganised.

• The Act envisages a mechanism in the form of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and Local Complaints Committee (LCC). All workplaces employing 10 or more workers are mandated under the Act to constitute an ICC. 

• Complaints from workplaces employing less than 10 workers or when the complaint is against the employer will be looked into by the LCC. 

• The Act casts a responsibility on every employer to create an environment that is free from sexual harassment. Under it employers are required to organise workshops and awareness programmes at regular intervals for sensitising employees about the provision of this legislation.

What is sexual harassment at the workplace?

• Sexual harassment at the workplace is any unwelcome sexually defined behaviour that has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with the individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile, abusive or offensive working environment.

• The Sexual Harassment of Women (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act states that if the following circumstances occur or are present in relation to, or connected with any act or behaviour of sexual harassment, it may amount to sexual harassment at the workplace:

i) Implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment.

ii) Implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment.

iii) Implied or explicit threat about her present or future employment status.

iv) Interference with her work or creating an intimidating or offensive or hostile work environment for her.

v) Humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.

• Today, all workplaces in India are mandated by law to provide a safe and secure working environment free from sexual harassment for all women.

What is the purpose of SHe-Box portal?

• The SHe-Box portal is an initiative of the Ministry to provide a publicly available centralised repository of information related to Internal Committee (IC) and Local Committee (LC) constituted at various workplaces, across the country, whether in government or private sector.

• It is also an end to end integrated complaint monitoring system. 

• It provides for designating a nodal officer for every workplace who is required to ensure updation of data/information on a regular basis for real time monitoring of complaints.

• A complaint on the portal can be filed by an aggrieved woman or any other person on behalf of the complainant. If the person filing a complaint is the aggrieved woman herself, she has to login on to the portal by registering her basic details such as her work status, name, phone number, and email. 

• If the person filing a complaint is any other person, he/she has to login on to the portal by registering his/her name, relationship with the complainant and undertaking from the complainant along with the work status, name, phone number, and email of the aggrieved woman/complainant. 

• Depending on the status of her employment, the person filing a complaint is required to select the IC/LC of the workplace where they want to submit the complaint. 

• If the IC/LC of the aggrieved woman is registered on the portal, the complaint will be automatically submitted and forwarded to the IC/LC concerned. 

• In case, the IC of her workplace is not registered on the portal, the portal provides for an online process to obtain details of that workplace from the complainant and inform the State Nodal Officer and District Nodal Officer of the state/UT and district concerned to ensure early registration of that internal committee.

• The SHe-Box portal has a monitoring dashboard for Nodal Officers at the Centre/state/UT level and district level, to see the number of cases filed, disposed and pending, including those beyond the prescribed timeline. 

• Similar feature is built for the complainant to track the status of her complaint. 

• The portal is so designed that it masks the details of the complainant to maintain confidentiality. 

• Except the chairperson of the IC/LC, no other person is able to see the details or nature of the complaint registered.

• Time prescribed under the POSH Act for inquiry is 90 days.

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