Belated POSH Complaints Can't Be Rejected At Threshold Without Considering Reasons For Delay: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court has reiterated that sexual harassment complaints under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 cannot be rejected at threshold due to delay, without specific consideration of reasons.
While remitting the matter back to the internal complaints committee for fresh inquiry into the complaints against Associate Professor-G of Astrophysics at the Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery observed,
“Aforesaid complaints refer various incidents though specific dates are not mentioned and that Court is not aware that when these complaints were made to ICC as on complaint no date was mentioned in record and also taking note that even in X vs. Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti (supra) Supreme Court has observed that in certain circumstances delay may not be considered adverse to the extent that complaints may be rejected at threshold as it would not be in consonance of object of POSH Act and that normally such complaints are not made immediately, specially when complainants were working under delinquent as it would affect their respective future.”
Various sexual harassment complaints were filed by girl students who had done their PhD under the Petitioner, the Associate Professor at HCRI.
Petitioner sought various documents pertaining to the proceedings of the Internal Complaints Committee, but allegedly was not supplied the same. Eventually, he was found guilty and an order was passed censuring the petitioner and barring him from taking any female students as PHD fellows or research assistants.
Petitioner approached the High Court against the aforesaid order on grounds that the complaints were filed after a delay of 6 months whereas the POSH Act provides that the complaints must be filed before the ICC within 3 months from the incident.
It was also argued that the copies of the complaints and statements of alleged victims was not provided to the petitioner.
The Court observed that there was no reference in the report of the ICC regarding statements and documents being supplied to the petitioner. It noted that no reference was made in the report regarding demand of cross-examination, if any, made by the petitioner. Accordingly, it held that the ICC had not followed the procedure prescribed under the POSH Act.
Holding that merely because dates of incidents were not specified before the Court, the complaints could not be rejected at the threshold, the Court quashed the impugned order.
It nonetheless directed the ICC to consider the time period of allegation, specific date of complaints as well as any explanation by complainants to approach at belated stage and then take a fresh decision, whether complaints have to be rejected at threshold or to proceed further.
Case Title: Dr. Tapas Kumar Das v. Harish Chandra Research Institute And 3 Others