An Office Order dated April 30, 2026 issued by Kuntal Sharma Pathak, Registrar (J), Court & Building, Supreme Court's Administration General Branch, in exercise of powers conferred by Clause 4(2) of the Gender Sensitization & Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition & Redressal) Regulations, 2013 states that Justice Surya Kant, the Chief Justice of India has re-constituted a 12-member, Supreme Court Gender Sensitization and Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) with effect from May 1, 2026. These Regulations came into force on July 17, 2013 in the backdrop of enactment of The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 after it was assented by the President of India and publication in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, on April 23, 2013 and the framing of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, the Union Government made the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Rules, 2013 in exercise of the powers conferred by section 29 of the Act which was published in the Gazette of India on December 9, 2013.
The composition of the ICC is as under:-
1. Justice B.V. Nagarathna Chairperson
2. Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, Member
3. Ms. Kaveri, Registrar (J) [Officer in service of the Supreme Court of India], Member Secretary
4. Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Senior Advocate, Senior Member, Supreme Court Bar Association under Clause 4(2)(b)], Member
5. Ms. Nina Gupta, Advocate, Senior Member, Supreme Court Bar Association under Clause 4(2)(b)], Member
6. Mr. Soumyajit Pani, Advocate, Representative, Supreme Court Bar Association under Clause 4(2)(c)] ,Member
7. Ms. Sakshi Banga, Advocate, Representative, Supreme Court Bar Association under Clause 4(2)(c)], Member
8. Ms. Prabha Swami, Advocate-on-record, Representative, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association under Clause 4 (2)(d)], Member
9. Mrs. Sushma Rawat, Representative, Supreme Court Bar Clerks Association under Clause 4(2)(e)],
Member
10. Ms. Sneh Sharma, Founder, Vividhta Consulting, Nominee, Chief Justice of India under Clause 4 (2)(f)], Member
11. Ms. Liz Mathew, Senior Advocate, Nominee, Chief Justice of India under Clause 4(2)(h)], Member and
12. Ms. Maheravish Rein, Advocate, Nominee, Chief Justice of India under Clause 4(2)(h)], Member
Prior to this, there 11 members including Dr. Leni Chaudhuri, Executive Director, University of Chicago Centre in India Pvt. Ltd., the nominee of the Chief Justice of India and Bansuri Swaraj, Senior Advocate who are not there in the reconstituted committee.
Earlier too, the ICC was chaired by Justice B.V. Nagarathna. But its Member Secretary was Sujata Singh, Registrar, [Officer in service of the Supreme Court of India]. Its nine members included: Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Senior Advocate, Nina Gupta, Advocate, Soumyajit Pani, Advocate, Sakshi Banga, Prabha Swami, Advocate-on-record, Bansuri Swaraj, Senior Advocate, Liz Mathew, Senior Advocate and Dr. Leni Chaudhuri, Executive Director, University of Chicago Centre in India Pvt. Ltd., the nominee of the Chief Justice of India. Prior to this Justice Nagarathna was made the Chairperson, GSICC by order dated September 18, 2024 of Chief Justice of India. Prior to Justice Nagarathna, Justice Hima Kohli was the Chairperson of the GSICC.
Notably, a circular dated February 14, 2014 issued by Rachna Gupta, Registrar, Supreme Court had communicated that the first meeting of Supreme Court Gender Sensitization and internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was held in the Supreme Court's premises on December 9, 2013 to workout the modalities for the effective implementation of the "The Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013" and to take decision on related issues. In pursuance of the direction and with a view to sensitize the public to gender issues, it had informed that "The aggrieved women as defined in clause 2(a) of the Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment of Women at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013 may make a complaint in writing of sexual harassment at Supreme Court of India precincts to the GSICC through its Member Secretary - Ms. Rachna Gupta, Registrar. The contact details are:-Room No. First Floor (East wing), near Cash & Account-I Registry of Supreme Court of India Phone No. 011- 23381581, E-mail gupta.rachna@indianjudiciary.gov.in The Complaint shall be sent either by registered post, courier, speed
post or e-mail. It can also be handed over personally at the above said address. As required by Regulation 16 of the Gender Sensitisation and Sexual Harassment of Womeri.at the Supreme Court of India (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Regulations, 2013, the confidentiality of the inquiry proceedings shall be maintained."
The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, aiming to provide a safe and secure working environment for women across all sectors was assented by the President of India and published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part-II, on April 23, 2013. The Act covers all women, irrespective of age or employment status and extends its protection to both public and private sector workplaces, organized or unorganized, including domestic workers. The Act, 2013 is designed to be inclusive, intersectional and sector-agnostic. The interpretation of following key definitions enshrined in the Act, 2013 provides that the Act is unequivocally applicable to all women, irrespective of sector, employment status or nature of work. Its Hindi version is available here.
In Jaya Kodate v. Rashtrasant Tukdoji Maharaj Nagpur University (2013), the Bombay High Court has held that “the definition of workplace is inclusive and deliberately kept wide by the Parliament to ensure that any area where women may be subjected to Sexual Harassment is not left unattended or unprovoked for."
Section 2(a) of the Act defines aggrieved woman as any woman, of any age, whether employed or not, who alleges she has been subjected to sexual harassment at the workplace. This broad definition ensures that any woman present at a workplace regardless of her role is covered under the ambit of the Act. It also demonstrates the legislature's intention to provide statutory protection irrespective of her employment status.
Section 2(f)- Definition of employee includes persons employed on regular, temporary, ad hoc, or daily wage basis, either directly or through an agent, including volunteers or trainees. This includes contractual workers, apprentices, trainees, consultants and even unpaid interns. The definition ensures that economic dependency on the employer/ in-charge/ owner of a workplace is not a precondition for protection.
Section 2(g) of the Act defines employer as
- in relation to any department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit of the appropriate Government or a local authority, the head of that department, organisation, undertaking, establishment, enterprise, institution, office, branch or unit or such other officer as the appropriate Government or the local authority, as the case may be, may by an order specify in this behalf;
- in any workplace not covered under sub-clause (i), any person responsible for the management, supervision and control of the workplace. (Explanation — For the purposes of this sub-clause “management” includes the person or board or committee responsible for formulation and administration of polices for such organisation);
- in relation to workplace covered under sub-clauses (i) and (ii), the person discharging contractual obligations with respect to his or her employees;
- in relation to a dwelling place or house, a person or a household who employs or benefits from the employment of domestic worker, irrespective of the number, time period or type of such worker employed, or the nature of the employment or activities performed by the domestic worker.
Under Section 2(o), the term workplace is expansively defined to include government bodies, private sector organizations, non-governmental organizations and institutions carrying out commercial, professional, vocational, educational, entertainment, industrial, health services or financial activities. Accordingly, the Act applies to formal and informal sectors, organized and unorganized settings, and public and private spaces. It also covers home-based workers, field staff and women in transit for work purposes.
Notably, the Internal Complaints Committee is an in-house redress mechanism to inquire into alleged complaints of sexual harassment in the institutions /organisations. Section 4 of the Act mandates that every employer of a workplace shall, by an order in writing, constitute a Committee to be known as the “Internal Complaints Committee”: and where the offices or administrative units of the workplace are located at different places or divisional or sub-divisional level, the Internal Committee shall be constituted at all administrative units or offices. The Internal Committees shall consist of the following members to be nominated by the employer, namely: —a Presiding Officer who shall be a woman employed at a senior level at workplace from amongst the employees, not less than two Members from amongst employees preferably committed to the cause of women or who have had experience in social work or have legal knowledge;one member from amongst non-governmental organizations or associations committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with the issues relating to sexual harassment: at least one-half of the total Members shall be women.
Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Committee and Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of Patna High Court
Patna High Court has Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Committee which comprises of the Chief Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo and Justice Soni Shrivastava. Notably, the contact person for Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Committee, Patna High Court is Registrar, Establishment, Patna High Court who can contacted at sankalpvahini@nic.in
Unlike the Supreme Court, which has 12 members, the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of Patna High Court has four members including Justice Soni Shrivastava, as the Chairperson. Its members are Rachna Shrivastava, Additional Registrar, Juvenile Justice Secretariat, Patna High Court, Surya Nilambari, Advocate Patna High Court and Swapna, Deputy Registrar, Patna High Court.
The Annual Reports of the High Court's Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Committee and the ICC do appear to be in public domain.
The relevant judgments on the issue include: Punjab and Sind Bank & Ors. vs Mrs. Durgesh Kuwar 2020 SCC OnLine SC 774, Medha Kotwal Lele & Ors. vs Uoi & Ors. (2013) 1 SCC 311 delivered on October 19 2012, D.S. Garewal vs. Vimmi Joshi (2009) 2 SCC 210, Apparel Export Promotion Council vs. A. K. Chopra AIR 1999 SC 625/1999(1) SCC 759 delivered on January 20, 1999 and Vishaka & Ors. vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors. AIR 1997 SC 3011.
In Dr Sohail Malik v Union of India (2025) 2025 INSC 1415, Supreme Court's Division Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Vijay Bishnoi delivered a 54-page long judgement dated December 10, 2025 wherein, it held that "The phrase ‘where the respondent is an employee’ as contained in Section 11 of the POSH Act, cannot be interpreted to mean that ICC proceedings against a ‘respondent’ may only be instituted before the ICC constituted at the workplace of the ‘respondent’; (ii) Such a restrictive interpretation of the POSH Act will run contrary to the scheme of the Act, specifically in light of the all-encompassing and wide definition which has been given to the term ‘workplace’ in Section 2(o) of the POSH Act, particularly in light of Section 2(o)(v) which expands the scope of ‘workplace’ to include any place visited by the employee ‘arising out of or during the course of employment’; (iii) Under Section 13 of the POSH Act, the recommendations and report of the ICC are to be sent to the ‘employer’ which shall then take a decision with respect to initiation of disciplinary action....(iv) In case the ICC constituted at the aggrieved woman’s workplace is conducting a fact-finding inquiry under the POSH Act, the employer of the ‘respondent’, even if it is a different department, must abide its duties under Section 19(f) of the POSH Act to swiftly cooperate and make available information upon a request by the ICC of the aggrieved woman’s workplace." Thejudgement was uathored by Justice Maheshwari.
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