The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressed) Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment at their place of work which came into force from 9 December 2013 (The Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, Section-I, dated 23 April 2013 as Act No. 14 of 2013). This act leads to the information of IPC Section 354 that stipulates what consists of a sexual harassment offence and what the penalties shall be for a man committing such an offence. Being a private academic institution, S.R.K.R. Engineering College is also within purview of the law and its jurisdiction as per the notification of UGC, No. 14-4/2012(CPP-II) of December 2012 has formulated regulations in the letter (Para 1.1 and 1.2, which also applies to institutions recognized under Clause (f) of Section 2 of UGC act 1956). So, in the light of misconduct at work place which amounts to a specific offence under IPC, the authorities concerned can initiate appropriate action in accordance with the law.

In SRKREC, the Principal has constituted “The Anti Sexual Harassment Cell (ASHC)” which is a sub-committee of the institute functioning for the prohibition of the sexual harassment in the campus.

Sexual harassment includes

1. Physical contact and advances.
2. A demand or request for sexual favors
3. Making sexually colored remarks
4. Showing pornography
5. Any unwelcome messages through telephone or internet

The Objectives of the Committee are

1.To promote awareness about sexual harassment through educational initiatives those encourages and foster a respectful and safe campus environment.
2.To ensure that students, faculty and staff are provided with current and comprehensive materials on sexual harassment and assault.
3.To provide a neutral, confidential and supportive environment for victims.
4.To advise complainants of the informal and formal means of resolution as specified by the Cell.
5. To deal with cases of discrimination and sexual harassment against women, in a time bound manner, aiming at ensuring support services to the victimized and termination of the harassment.
6.To recommend appropriate punitive action against the guilty party.
7. To provide information regarding counseling and support services on the campus.

The Protocol of Filing a Complaint

In case of sexual harassment or assault in any form is dealt strictly by the committee and takes punitive measures against the offenders. The ICC addresses the issues on emergency basis and takes prompt action. Due to this quick redressal system the students and the staff feel completely safe within the campus.
The complainant has to submit an application duly signed, addressing to the Convener of the Committee or by filing online grievance in the college portal.

--> A meeting will be called immediately where the members of the Committee will discuss the Complaints.
--> If the case comes under the purview of the Committee, an enquiry committee will be set up.
-->The Committee will submit a report to Prof. M Jagapathi Raju, Principal, SRKREC, and also recommend the nature of action to be taken after discussion with the Principal and The Correspondent of the institute.
--> The committee keeps the Complaints and name/s of the complainant/s confidential, so victims will not be influence by the offender/s. The committee will take the action within a period of three months from the date of incident and in case of a series of incidents within a period of three months from the date of last incident.

Action Plan

1. To make all students aware of the existence of Internal Complaints Committee.
2. As it is natural that people in general do not open up about sexual harassment, counseling is very important.
3. Confidential counseling service is provided to the students as well as the staff members.

4. Awareness Programs/Workshops on sexual harassment at professional arena are organized at definite intervals for the faculty, the non-teaching staff and the students. The aim of the workshops is to develop non-threatening and non-intimidating atmosphere on the campus.