Delhi govt departments reconstituting internal committees to deal with sexual harassment cases

Delhi government departments and agencies have started reconstituting internal complaints committees to deal with sexual harassment matters following instructions from Women and Child Development Minister Atishi, officials said on Monday.

The issue of sexual harassment came to the fore recently after a senior women and child development department official was arrested for allegedly repeatedly raping a minor girl living with his family. Earlier this month, Atishi directed Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar to draft detailed processes and rules to strengthen internal complaints committees at the department level.

Following her order, several departments have started setting up internal complaints committees to deal with issues faced by women employees at the workplace, said a senior Delhi government officer.

The office of the Registrar of Cooperative Societies has formed a five-member departmental committee, headed by an assistant registrar, to deal with women employees' complaints.

A women and child development department officer said other departments are also communicating setting up complaints committees according to provisions of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act.