Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Data shared by the govt in Parliament shows that as many as 254 women reached out to complain regarding sexual harassment at workplace under the POSH Act on the women and child development ministry’s SHe-Box portal last year. Overall as many as 296 complaints have been received since the portal was revamped and launched in a new avatar in August 2024 to step-up monitoring of the implementation of the law.Of the 296 complaints on SHe-Box portal (Sexual Harassment Electronic Box), 21 have been received till this February 6. Sharing this information in response to a written question in Rajya Sabha, minister of state for women and child development Savitri Thakur said that 105 complaints out of the 296 have been disposed of.She highlighted that ‘with a view to securing robust and transparent implementation of the ‘the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 the WCD ministry SHe-Box Portal on August 29 2024 as a transformative digital governance initiative.“The portal has been conceived with the objective of creating a central repository of information on Local Committees (LCs) and Internal Committees (ICs), which was not available earlier. It provides single-window access for women across all sectors to file complaints of sexual harassment, thereby ensuring ease of reporting with full confidentiality and accessibility,” the minister said.“It further enables centralised data management and monitoring of POSH Act implementation, facilitates real-time tracking of complaint status and promotes transparent communication between complainants and the authorities responsible for handling complaints,” she added.The Rajya Sabha was informed that so far 777 districts have uploaded Local Committee details. Out of 777 districts, details of 646 District Officers are available and details of 624 nodal officers are uploaded.The minister said that over 1,48,700 workplaces have been onboarded including 92,400 govt establishments and 56,300 private establishments. Out of these, approximately 60,700 ICs have updated their details (govt – 37,400; private – 23,300).The Parliament was also informed that to ensure disposal within the statutory period of ninety days, automated notifications are issued to nodal officers and chairpersons at regular intervals (30, 60, and 90 days). In case of pendency beyond ninety days, freeze messages, SMS, and email alerts are triggered to enforce timely action.To ensure accountability and statutory compliance with the POSH Act rules, the portal provides an option for ICs to upload their Annual Reports and confirm submission to the District Officers concerned.To step up the outreach on building awareness around the law, the WCD ministry is organising a ‘national conference on safety of women at workplace (SHe-Box)’ on Saturday at Vigyan Bhawan. Led by WCD minister Annpurna Devi, the conference will bring together senior officials from central ministries, states and UTs, chairpersons and members of ICs/ LCs, nodal officers, international organisations, industry leaders and civil society representatives.
