Complaints of sexual harassment at workplace doubled in Delhi

NEW DELHI: The number of sexual harassment complaints by women at workplaces have more than doubled as against last year in Delhi, Union Minister of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath told Lok Sabha today.

In a written reply, the Minister said National Commission for Women has received 35 complaints of sexual harassment at work places this year in Delhi, as against 15 last year recording 57.14 per cent jump.

Delhi is followed by Uttar Pradesh, from where the NCW has received 34 complaints as against 41 last year.

Complaints received from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh this year are 13 and 9 respectively as against 14 and 10 respectively last year.

The NCW has received no complaints from Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim in the last four years.

According to the data submitted today, the NCW received 25 such complaints in 2010 in Delhi which went down at 23 in 2011 and further down at 15 in 2012.

However, this year, the cases have gone up significantly with 35 complaints being registered with NCW till December 5.

While, addressing the complaints and taking suo-moto cognisance of such incidents, the NCW has stressed on the setting up of internal complaint Committee's in each and every government department or autonomous organisations in the country as per the Vishakha guidelines to deal with such complaints, the Minister said in her reply.