Sexual Harassment Of Women At Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition And Redressal) Act, 2013 (Posh Act)
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work. The Act came into force from 9 December 2013. This statute superseded the Vishaka Guidelines for Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) introduced by the Supreme Court (SC) of India. It was reported by the International Labour Organization that very few Indian employers were compliant to this statute. Most Indian employers have not implemented the law despite the legal requirement that any workplace with more than 10 employees need to implement it. According to a FICCI-EY November 2015 report, 36% of Indian companies and 25% among MNCs are not compliant with the Sexual Harassment Act, 2013. The government has threatened to take stern action against employers who fail to comply with this law. Through the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013, Section 354 A was added to the Indian Penal Code 1860 that stipulates what consists of a sexual harassment offence and what the penalties shall be for a man committing such an offence. Penalties range from one to three years imprisonment and/or a fine. Additionally, with sexual harassment being a crime, employers are obligated to report offences. AMENDMENTS IN 2016 TO THE POSH ACT Sections 6, 7 and 24 of the PoSH Act were amended to the following effect: (i) for the words “Local Complaints Committee”, wherever they occur, the words “Local Committee” shall be substituted; (ii) for the words “Internal Complaints Committee”, wherever they occur, the words “Internal Committee” shall be substituted.
Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014-disclosure Of Compliance Is Mandatory
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has amended the Companies (Accounts) Rules, 2014 to mandate the disclosure regarding the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (POSH laws) in the Director’s report of every company. It has been made mandatory to include a statement in the Director’s report that the company has complied with provisions relating to the constitution of the Internal Complaints Committee under POSH laws.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development, with respect to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 has published a ‘Handbook’ on the Act which inter alia, states that every woman has right to safe workplace, Sexual harassment is subjective. It further states that sexual harassment is subjective and that ‘it is the impact and not the intent that matters’ and ‘almost always occurs in a matrix of power.’ It explains how each case of sexual harassment is unique. It explains in detail the Penalty for Employers, Expectation of a trained IC. It provides scenario-based illustrations to elucidate the different types of sexual harassment at workplace. The Handbook lists down several rights that a complainant and the respondent have and highlights the responsibilities of a complaints committee.
Protection Of Children From Sexual Offenses Act, 2012 (Pocso)
POCSO is gender neutral, meaning that crimes of this nature committed against children will be handled by this act irrespective of the gender of the child. It is mandatory for the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) in all cases of child abuse. We also organize POCSO Awareness and Intensive Course Program in all Educational Institutions, Crèches, Sports Academies or any other facility for children and corporate who are playing role as supplier to the educational institutions.
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021
- Till September,2022, Action Taken Against 2.5 Crore Facebook, Instagram Posts By Meta To Comply With Indian IT Laws
- WhatsApp bans over 23 lakh Indian accounts in July 2022
- Google received record 37,173 user complaints in July, up 13%
The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 have generated significant debate since their release in February 2021. These Rules are made for social media channels and OTT platforms which created a surge of tension under the country’s democratic line. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Signal, and other messaging apps, as well as OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and digital news, need to have a thorough mechanism for Grievance Redressal and cannot be given the status of protection. Because of these rules, there are a lot of controversies, especially concerning our freedom of speech and expression and our right to privacy.
The majority of these provisions were unanticipated, resulting in various petitions filed in High Courts across the country challenging the validity of the various aspects of the Rules, including with regard to their constitutionality.
On 25 May 2021, the three month compliance period on some new requirements for significant social media intermediaries (so designated by the Rules) expired, without many intermediaries being in compliance opening them up to liability under the Information Technology Act as well as wider civil and criminal laws. This has reignited debates about the impact of the Rules on business continuity and liability, citizens’ access to online services, privacy and security.
It was soon evident that the IT rules were flawed, with social media platforms, journalists and others bringing constitutional challenges against them. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology recently proposed amendments to the IT Rules to address these deficiencies.
Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 is an act of the Parliament of India with the objective to provide for protection of rights of transgender people, their welfare, and other related matters. On 15 April 2014, the Supreme Court of India delivered its judgment in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (NALSA v. UOI), in which it recognised the rights of transgender people in India and laid down a series of measures for securing transgender people’s rights by mandating the prohibition of discrimination, recommending the creation of welfare policies, and reservations for transgender people in educational institutions and jobs.[2] The judgment upheld the right of a transgender person to self-perceived gender identity, guaranteed by the Constitution of India, in the absence of sex reassignment surgery.[3] The 2014 judicial mandate was affirmed by the judgments of the Supreme Court in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and anr. v. Union of India and ors. (2017) and Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018).[4] The judgment in NALSA v. UOI also noted the presence of transgender people in India throughout its history, and made reference to the hijra, kinnar, and jogta communities, spread across the country and elsewhere in the Indian subcontinent
Consequently, the Union Government to further the rights and welfare of the transgender community enacted the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 and Rules, 2020 (“The Transgender Act”). The Transgender Act aims to end discrimination against transgender persons in accessing education, employment and healthcare. It also recognises the right to self-perceived gender identity of individuals.
The development of the Transgender Act has followed similar path to that of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”). The Supreme Court in the matter of Vishaka vs. State of Rajasthan held that under Article 21 right to life means life with dignity and the same cannot be provided to women without ensuring safe working environment. Therefore, the objective of both the laws is to empower two of the most discriminated communities of our society and provide them dignity and equal opportunity.
While the POSH Act is not gender neutral and provides protection only to women with absence of clarity on application to transgender persons, however, when read with the Transgender Act and the NALSA judgment, it can be stated that the POSH Act would provide protection to a transgender woman (who may or may not have undergone surgery). This seems to be evident in a judgement by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi wherein it is observed that a cognizable offence under the provision of section 354A, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), in particular sub-clause (i), (ii) and (iv) is made out on the complaint by a transgender person (identifying as a woman), the same shall be registered, in accordance with law, in terms of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of NALSA.