POSH Act | Inquiry Report Copy Must Be Given To Complainant; Supreme Court Imposes Penalty On BSF

The Supreme Court recently imposed a penalty of Rs. 25,000 on the Border Security Force (BSF) for failure to provide a copy of the inquiry report to a complainant who initiated proceedings against an officer under the the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal Act (POSH Act), 2013.

The bench of Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah observed that the BSF constable, who complained of sexual harassment would fall under the term 'concerned parties', under S.13(1) of the POSH Act.

S. 13(1) states : "On the completion of an inquiry under this Act, the Internal Committee or the Local Committee, as the case may be, shall provide a report of its findings to the employer, or as the case may be, the District Officer within a period of ten days from the date of completion of the inquiry and such report be made available to the concerned parties.”

The petitioner was a constable in the Border Security Force (BSF) who complained of sexual harassment against one of the officers. As per the petitioner, since no action was taken by the BSF, a writ petition was then filed before the Supreme Court.

However, the BSF in its reply informed the Court that the initial departmental inquiry under the POSH Act resulted in no outcome.

But subsequently, a fresh inquiry was conducted by the Inspector General under the BSF Act 1968. The punishment awarded to the officer included: i) 89 days of rigorous imprisonment in custody, ii) forfeiture of 5 years of service for the purpose of promotion and iii) forfeiture of 5 years of past service for the purpose of pension.

The punishments were also carried out and the officer involved didn't appeal against the order.

The contention of the petitioner was however that (1) the punishment liable to be imposed was under the POSH Act; (2) the copy of the Inquiry Report was not given to the petitioner and violated S.13(1) of the POSH Act.

Notably, S. 26 of the POSH Act provides for a fine on the employer when there is a contravention of S. 13 of the Act.

The BSF countered that the Report of the Inquiry Committee was not given to the petitioner, as she was not an accused and moreover, the Inquiry Report did not find anything material against the accused person.

Rejecting the above submission, the Court observed that there was a procedural violation as the petitioner came under the ambit of 'concerned parties' under S. 13(1) of the Act. Since it was an admitted fact that the report copy was not given to the petitioner, the Court directed the imposition of Rs. 25,000/- as penalty on BSF.

"We are of the view that Inquiry Report ought to have been given to the victim as it is required to be given under Section 13 (1) to all the “concerned parties”. Petitioner is definitely a concerned party."

"On the facts of this case where the Inquiry Report was not been given to the petitioner, there has clearly been a violation of Section 13 of the Act. We therefore impose a penalty of Rs. 25,000/­ which will be given to the petitioner by the Border Security Force."

The Court however noted that since punishment has already been given to the concerned employee, and no further steps are needed in that regard. The writ petition was disposed of.

The petitioner was represented by Mr. Prashant Kumar, AOR and Mr. Anand Kumar Pandey, Adv.

Case Details : MS. X v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. | WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO(S). 284/2020

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 972

Click here to read the order