This article is written by Ramanuj Mukherjee, CEO, iPleaders.

Are you a member of the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) at your workplace?

If you are, probably I don’t need to tell you what it is. Still, for removal of all doubts, let me clarify what it is.

Under sexual harassment law there is a requirement that every establishment that serves as a workplace, be it a shop, warehouse, office or branch of any sorts, having 10 or more employees, must constitute an internal complaints committee.

Such internal complaints committees play a big role in implementing the sexual harassment law at the ground level. If this committee has the right kind of people, it is very difficult for sexual harassment to thrive in the workplace. The committee has a lot of power and responsibilities.

However, unfortunately, the companies often do not take their ICC seriously. They ask people to be on the committee but provide no training for them. How are you supposed to deal with various complicated legal situations as an ICC member? You can’t navigate this on common sense. It is a statutory responsibility.

What are you even supposed to do when a sexual harassment complaint is filed before you?

Here are some of the questions you are likely to face. HR managers, and often even your in-house legal team may not know the answers to the vast majority of these questions.

Please go through the questions once, very carefully, and think how you are going to deal with them.

Important questions that ICC members often deal with after a sexual harassment complaint comes up

What if a victim of sexual harassment is not willing to file a written complaint but only orally informs the HR/ICC? What is the role of ICC then? What are your options?

What if the victim informs the police? What role should the ICC play at that time?

When should the ICC or the company report the situation to the police?

Are you supposed to counsel and comfort the victim? Is that your job as ICC member?

Can the company start a suo motu disciplinary action against the accused without even receiving any complaint or evidence?

What to do when a man makes counterclaims against a complainant who claims that she was sexually harassed?

Is the ICC an investigative agency or a decision making the body? What is your duty? Are you supposed to restrict yourself to what the parties bring to the table i.e. submit to you or look beyond that?

How are you supposed to ensure that ICC hearings are free, fair and credible?

What are the principles you are supposed to follow while conducting ICC hearing?

Should any of the parties be able to bring in a lawyer for the ICC hearings?

Is it necessary to hand over the evidence to the accused so that he can prepare his defence? Does the accused have a right to know the evidence against him?

Should the accused get an opportunity to controvert the evidence presented against him?

What about the right of cross-examination?

How to weigh evidence when both sides present evidence pointing at different directions?

What kind of recordings of hearings must be maintained? Should hearings be video recorded?

What kind of punishments can be given to the accused? How to decide what should be the quantum of punishment?

How to record your reasons in the final order?

What if members of the ICC are not able to come to a mutual consensus regarding the problem? What if they disagree about what order to pass?

What to do if you get sufficient evidence that shows that the original complaint was false and mala fide?

What are the times when the ICC should consult outside consultants?

Should there be any difference in approach if the accused is a very senior person in the company?

What if a person who is a part of the ICC is accused?

Answers?

I know, these are a lot of questions. There are in fact more once you start working with this law. The ability of human beings to create complicated and unforeseen situations is incomparable. And the law must be cautiously and accurately applied.

Sorry, I can’t give all the answers right here in this blog post. We will try to tackle some of these issues in future posts on iPleaders blog.

However, we offer training to ICC members across the country. We have been responsible for training and certifying a large majority of practising sexual harassment experts in India. We train the ICCs through live online sessions as well as provide reference material that will help you to do the job properly.

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