A plain-English guide to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, for organisations whose "workplace" is often a village, a vehicle, or a field camp.
POSH Act 2013Vishaka legacyNGOs · Field teams · HR
Not legal advice. This guide is an educational explainer. Inquiry procedure errors can invalidate outcomes and expose your organisation, so involve your external IC member or a lawyer when a complaint is live.
10+
workers at a workplace is the line between the district Local Committee and the employer's Internal Committee (IC): below ten, complaints go to the Local Committee (section 6(1)). NGOs are covered (section 2(o)(ii))
90 days
to complete an inquiry once a complaint is received
≥ 50%
of IC members must be women, chaired by a senior woman employee
₹50,000
maximum fine for not constituting an IC (section 26); a repeat conviction for the same offence doubles the punishment and can cost your licence or registration
Section 01
Why this law is not an "HR formality" in the sector
The POSH Act, 2013 turned the Supreme Court's Vishaka guidelines (1997) into binding legislation. The case arose from the gang rape of Bhanwari Devi, a grassroots social worker in Rajasthan. Its origin story is a social-sector story about a woman doing development work in the field, attacked for doing it, and failed by the institutions around her.
Development organisations carry above-average exposure: dispersed field teams, power gaps between head office and field staff, residential trainings, travel with colleagues and community members, and a workforce that is often young and female. Section 2(o)(v) defines "workplace" to include any place an employee visits arising out of or during the course of employment, so it covers field work as well as the office.
Section 02
The Act in six points
Sexual harassment is defined broadly. Section 2(n) lists unwelcome physical contact and advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, and any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual nature, whether direct or by implication. Section 3(2) lists circumstances that, among others, may amount to sexual harassment when present in connection with such conduct: an implied or explicit promise of preferential treatment in her employment, an implied or explicit threat of detrimental treatment in her employment, a threat about her present or future employment status, interference with her work or an intimidating, offensive or hostile work environment for her, and humiliating treatment likely to affect her health or safety.
"Workplace" follows the work. It includes any place visited by the employee arising out of or during employment, including employer-arranged transport. Field visits, community meetings, trainings and conferences fall within that wording, as does transport the employer arranges for the journey.
"Aggrieved woman" is wider than "employee." Any woman of any age, whether employed or not: staff, volunteers, interns, consultants, visitors and community members present at the workplace. A domestic worker is covered in relation to the home where she works (section 2(a)(ii)). She does not need an employment contract with you to complain to your IC.
Every 10+ workplace needs an Internal Committee. Section 4 requires a Presiding Officer (a woman employed at a senior level), at least two members from among the employees, preferably committed to the cause of women or with social-work experience or legal knowledge, and one external member from an NGO or association committed to the cause of women, or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment. At least half the members must be women. The employer specifies each member's term, which may not exceed three years.
Smaller workplaces route to the Local Committee. Under section 6(1), complaints from establishments with fewer than ten workers, where no IC has been constituted, and complaints against the employer go to the district-level Local Committee (LC), which the District Officer constitutes.
Deadlines are statutory. Complaint within 3 months of the incident, or of the last incident in a series (the committee may extend this by up to 3 more months, for reasons it records in writing); inquiry completed within 90 days; report within 10 days of completion; employer acts on recommendations within 60 days. Conciliation is possible before the inquiry if the complainant asks for it, but no monetary settlement may be made the basis of it (section 10).
Section 03
Who's who under the Act
Employer · duty-holder
Must provide a safe workplace, constitute the IC, display the penal consequences of sexual harassment and the order constituting the IC, declare the names and contact details of the IC's members (Rule 13(e) of the 2013 Rules), run awareness workshops and orientation for IC members, assist with complaints, and report the number of cases filed and disposed of in its annual report (section 22). For NGOs, the "employer" is typically the trustee body, governing board, or executive director.
Internal Committee (IC) · quasi-judicial body
Receives complaints, attempts conciliation if asked, conducts the inquiry under the respondent's service rules or, where there are none, under Rule 7 of the 2013 Rules, which requires the inquiry to follow the principles of natural justice (section 11; Rule 7(4)). Where both parties are employees, each is heard and each receives a copy of the findings. While the inquiry is pending, and on the complainant's written request, it may recommend a transfer of either party or up to three months' leave for her (section 12). If the allegation is proved, it recommends that the employer treat the conduct as misconduct under the service rules and deduct a sum from the respondent's wages for payment to her (section 13(3)).
External member · independence anchor
The outside voice on the IC under section 4(2)(c): a member from an NGO or association committed to the cause of women, or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment. The role keeps the IC independent, especially where the respondent is senior. Choose someone with real training in POSH inquiries rather than a convenient acquaintance. Rule 3 of the 2013 Rules entitles the external member to ₹200 for each day of proceedings and reimbursement of travel cost up to the limits the rule sets, and makes the employer responsible for paying it.
District Officer & Local Committee · the safety net
The district machinery for small workplaces, informal-sector workers, and complaints against employers. Field-heavy NGOs that partner with community-based groups of fewer than ten workers should know that a complaint from those workplaces goes to the Local Committee.
Section 04
Your compliance checklist
The employer duties, converted into nine concrete steps.
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Section 05
Grey areas practitioners argue about
Complainants who aren't women
The Act protects only an "aggrieved woman." Male and non-binary colleagues harassed at work have no remedy under POSH itself. Most well-run organisations adopt a gender-neutral internal policy that mirrors POSH procedure through service rules or the code of conduct. That policy sits outside the Act but is enforceable as an employment matter. A private member's Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha on 5 December 2025 (Bill No. LXXXIII of 2024) proposes to extend the Act to persons of every gender. A Bill changes nothing until Parliament passes it and the President assents.
Community members and programme participants
A community member harassed by your staff member during programme delivery is within the Act's reach, because the location is your "workplace" and she is an "aggrieved woman." The reverse, where a community member harasses your staff, is less settled, because section 11(1) is written for a respondent who is an employee. Section 19(a) requires the employer to provide a safe working environment, including safety from persons coming into contact at the workplace, and the Supreme Court has read section 19(h) as a duty to assist with criminal proceedings if the woman wishes, even where the respondent is not an employee anywhere. Where the respondent is employed by another organisation, such as a partner or funder, the Supreme Court held in Dr. Sohail Malik v. Union of India (2025 INSC 1415, 10 December 2025) that the IC at the complainant's own workplace can inquire into her complaint. Both parties in that case were Central Government employees. The IC sends its report to the respondent's employer, which acts on it under section 13.
Volunteers and gig-style workers
"Employee" is defined expansively (regular, temporary, ad hoc, daily wage, with or without pay, including volunteers) for the purpose of who can complain. Whether volunteers count towards the ten-worker line in section 6(1) is less settled. The cautious reading, and a sensible one on values as well, is to constitute an IC anyway.
False-complaint provisions
Section 14 lets the committee recommend action against a complainant whose complaint is malicious or knowingly false, or who produced a forged or misleading document. The Act adds that a mere inability to substantiate a complaint or provide adequate proof need not attract action, and that malicious intent must be established after an inquiry before any action is recommended. A committee that raises Section 14 too readily discourages good-faith reports.
Section 06
Frequently asked questions
We're a 7-person NGO. Do we need an IC?
Section 6(1) sends complaints from an establishment with fewer than ten workers, where no IC has been constituted, to your district's Local Committee. Section 4(1) itself states no headcount. The employer duties in section 19 apply to every employer, among them a safe working environment, display of the penal consequences of sexual harassment and awareness programmes.
Does an incident during a field visit or residential training count?
Yes. Section 2(o)(v) covers any place the employee visits arising out of or during the course of employment, including transportation by the employer for the journey. Training venues, field sites and travel for work fall within that wording.
What if the complaint is against our founder or executive director?
If the respondent is the employer, the complaint goes to the Local Committee (section 6(1)). An IC cannot credibly inquire into the person it reports to. Boards should have a protocol for this scenario before it happens, including interim measures the board itself can take.
Can the IC and the police process run in parallel?
Yes. The IC inquiry is a civil, employment-side process; some conduct is also an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, which repealed the Indian Penal Code and has applied since 1 July 2024. Section 75 covers sexual harassment by a man, and section 79 covers words, sounds, gestures or objects intended to insult the modesty of a woman. Section 19(g) of the POSH Act, which still refers to the Indian Penal Code, requires the employer to assist the woman if she chooses to file a criminal complaint, and section 28 keeps the Act in addition to any other law. One process does not suspend the other.
What does POSH compliance have to do with our funding?
Beyond the statutory penalty (a fine of up to ₹50,000, doubled on a repeat conviction for the same offence, with possible cancellation of licence or registration), funders and CSR teams may ask about POSH compliance in due diligence.
ImpactMojo (2026). "The POSH Act for the Social Sector." ImpactMojo Law Guides. Retrieved from https://impactmojo.in/law-guides/posh-act-social-sector.html
Spotted an error or a change in the law?
If a judgment or amendment has changed something on this page, tell us and we'll fix it.
The judgments below are the ones that changed what this law requires in practice. Summaries are editorial orientation, not legal advice; the linked judgment is what is authoritative.
Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa
Supreme Court of India · 12 May, 2023 · still good law
Held. The Court set aside the termination of a Goa University employee after a complaints committee inquiry that fell short of natural justice, and remanded the inquiry to the committee with a three-month limit. In the same judgment it directed the Union, the States and the Union Territories to carry out a time-bound exercise to verify that ministries, departments, public authorities, statutory professional bodies, universities, colleges and government and private hospitals have constituted Internal, Local or Internal Complaints Committees as the PoSH Act requires, and to file compliance affidavits within eight weeks. The committee details must be published on each body's website.
What changed. The directions bind the Union, the States and the Union Territories to verify that the listed bodies have constituted committees as the PoSH Act requires and to report by affidavit, and each body must publish its committee's composition and contact details on its website. The Court recorded that committees found in place often lacked the mandatory external member. On 10 February 2026 it was still taking States' compliance affidavits and listed the matter for 17 March 2026.
Supreme Court of India · 19 October, 2012 · now in statute
Held. A three-judge bench found that the Vishaka guidelines had not been adequately implemented and directed States and Union Territories, within two months, to amend their Civil Services Conduct Rules and Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Rules so that a Complaints Committee report is treated as an inquiry report in a disciplinary action. It directed them to form Complaints Committees at taluka, district and State level, each headed by a woman, and directed bodies such as the Bar Council of India and the Medical Council of India to see that the guidelines are followed by those registered with them.
What changed. Where the Vishaka guidelines and these directions are not followed, the Court said it is open to aggrieved persons to approach the High Court of the State. A complainant at an institution with no committee can rely on that direction, and the Internal Committee requirement is now in the 2013 Act.
Now in statute. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 now requires employers to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (section 4(1)) and District Officers to constitute Local Complaints Committees (section 6(1)).
Supreme Court of India · 20 January, 1999 · still good law
Held. Physical contact is not needed for sexual harassment. Unwelcome sexually determined behaviour by a superior, including attempts to touch and sexual advances, falls within it. The Court restored the employee's removal from service and held that the High Court should not have replaced the penalty chosen by the disciplinary authority.
What changed. A disciplinary finding of sexual harassment can rest on conduct short of physical contact. The Court said that in such cases courts examine the broader probabilities on the whole record and the victim's statement, and that a disciplinary inquiry is not a criminal trial. Section 2(n) of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 now defines sexual harassment.
Supreme Court of India · 13 August, 1997 · now in statute
Held. In the absence of a law on workplace sexual harassment, a three-judge bench laid down guidelines under Article 32 for all workplaces, to be treated as law declared under Article 141 and binding and enforceable until suitable legislation was enacted. They required employers to prevent and deter harassment and to create a time-bound complaint mechanism, with a Complaints Committee where necessary, headed by a woman, with at least half its members women and a third party such as an NGO.
What changed. From August 1997 public and private employers had to publish a prohibition of sexual harassment, include it in their conduct rules or standing orders, and provide a complaint mechanism. Section 4 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 now requires every employer of a workplace to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee by written order.
Now in statute. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 now provides for Internal Complaints Committees (section 4) and defines sexual harassment (section 2(n)).
