About Internal Complaints Committee

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. Taking this into account, the North Bengal University has set up the Complaint Committee for Prevention of Sexual Harassment with the objective to uphold women’s right to protection against sexual harassment and for the prevention and redressal of sexual harassment; to promote a social, physical and psychological environment that will raise awareness about and deter acts of sexual harassment of women; to organise gender sensitisation programmes; and, to deal with cases of discrimination and sexual harassment against women, in a time-bound manner.

Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexually tinted behaviour, whether directly or by implication, such as physical contact and advances, demand or request for sexual favours, making sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, or any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature. Some of the other things covered within the definition of sexual harassment include eve-teasing, unsavoury remarks, jokes causing or likely to cause awkwardness or embarrassment, innuendos and taunts, gender-based insults or sexist remarks, unwelcome sexual overtone

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Guidelines and What we do

• Zero tolerance towards sexual harassments
• To carry out gender sensitization against sexual harassment, by explaining what is sexual harassment, physical, verbal, or using electronic media in collaboration with other Academic Departments/UGC-HRDC.
• To ensure the right to safe campus and workplace.
• To explain the broadened meaning of workplace/campus under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 and the Saksham Guidelines
• To provide mechanisms of dispute redressal and dialogue through just and fair conciliation without undermining the rights of both the parties.
• To minimize the need for purely punitive approaches
• To enable a complainant to make a formal complaint where the complainant so wishes, and to act in accordance with the Act of 2013 and the UGC guidelines of 2015 to ensure that complaint and inquiry are carried out fairly and within the time set out by law.
• To protect the safety of complainant and any witnesses by not divulging identities
• To ensure that the provisions of the Act are not misused by frivolous complaints.

Composition of the Committee