The Kerala High Court has held that the report or findings of an internal complaints committee (ICC) under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013 do not have any bearing on the prosecution initiated on a complaint of the survivor.
The court made the observation recently while dismissing a writ petition filed by a head of a college in Kollam seeking to quash the sexual harassment case lodged against him.
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The court also observed that it was shocking to note that the majority of the ICC reports which the court had come cross were of unilateral and biased nature, favouring the majority of the institutions, and, as such, the credence of the ICC report “is matter subject to thorough check and scrutiny to believe and act upon”. The court, therefore, held the report of the ICC was not the final word.
The court noted that in the instant case, the statement of the survivor was not recorded on the ground that she did not appear before the committee even on notice. Therefore, the ICC report, prepared without even recording the statement of the survivor, could not supersede the prosecution records.
The petitioner sought to quash the case in view of the ICC report which gave clean chit to him.
Source : thehindu
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