Women Welfare Cell

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 aims to provide protection against sexual harassment of women at the workplace. Key points include:

• Objectives: To ensure safe working environments for women and to prevent and address complaints of sexual harassment.
• Definitions: The act defines sexual harassment and outlines the responsibilities of employers to create a safe workplace.
• Complaint Procedure: It allows aggrieved women to file complaints, which must be addressed promptly by the Internal Complaints Committee.
• Implementation: The act mandates the establishment of committee in workplaces to handle complaints and ensure compliances.

Steering Committee Members of Women Cell:

• Objective of the Cell 
  • The Cell will deal with the cases/complaints of sexual harassment and any other type of harassment of the female students, teaching and non-teaching women staff of the college.
  • The Cell shall process all individual complaints and take immediate suitable steps.
  • The Cell will assist the Faculty/Colleges in taking preventive steps in the matter of gender discrimination and sexual harassment.
  • The Principal will be the Chairman of the Cell and may appoint members of the Steering Committee Women Cell.
  • The Cell may form/review the guidelines/policy for redressal of the grievance as required from time to time, which may be by those issued by the Supreme Court and Government.
• Grievance Procedure 
  • Any women employee or female student will have the right to complain about sexual harassment against a male student or the employee of the institute by writing a letter or putting the complaint to the Principal.
  • The complaint will be afforded full confidentiality.
  • After receiving the complaint, the chairman shall convene the meeting of the members of the Steering Committee.
  • The steering committee shall then decide the course of action.
  • The complaint will stand dropped if according to the committee the complaint has not been able to disclose prima-facie an offence of sexual harassment by the complainer.
  • In case the steering committee decides to proceed with the complaint, the wishes of    the complainer shall be ascertained and if the complainer wishes that a warning will suffice then the alleged offender shall be called to the meeting of the committee, heard and if satisfied that a warning is just and proper, he will be warned about his behaviour and non-occurrence of it. In case the complainer requests that the complaint should be proceeded with beyond mere a warning, the same may be proceeded with in the manner prescribed hereafter.
•  Procedure for investigation
  • If the complainer wishes to proceed beyond a mere warning to the accused, the accused shall be given in writing by the steering committee an opportunity to explain within one week why he should not be, for good and sufficient reasons, punished for the act of sexual harassment on his part.
  • If the written explanation of the accused is not found to be satisfactory or if he does not provide any written explanation, the steering committee will decide whether the offence deserves a minor penalty or a major
  • If the steering committee decides that the accused be imposed a minor penalty, the said penalty will be recommended by the steering committee to the chairman of the cell for further action.
  • If the investigation committee comes to a conclusion that the accused, in case his guilt is proved, should be imposed a major penalty, it shall make a recommendation for placing him under suspension under the provisions of the act, if the accused is an employee.
  • If a person is charged with physical molestation or rape on college/society’s premises, he shall be immediately placed under suspension pending the completion of the investigation and appropriate actions can be initiated as per the laws of the Indian penal code.
• Punishment for sexual harassment
  • Any member of the institute fraternity (student/employee/outsider related to the institute) found guilty of sexual harassment shall be liable to be punished. This shall be subject to the same penalties for major or minor misconduct as prescribed under government/ university rules.
  • A student guilty of sexual harassment shall be liable for any of the following penalties:
    • Warning or
    • Suspension from university/ college for a period of one year.
    • Debarment from appearing for the examination for a period of up to three years.
    • Rustication from the university/college as the case may be
    • Any other punishment as defined by the government/ university.
• Protection against Victimization

The committee noted and approved the policy on Protection against Victimization of the Women’s Grievance Redressal Cell as follows-

• In the event of the complainer being a student and the accused being a teacher, during the pendency of the investigation and inquiry and even after such an enquiry if the teacher is found to be guilty, the accused will not act as an examiner for any examination for which the student appears.