ICC Jurisdiction Post Sohail Malik: Victim Access In The Absence Of Multi-Employer Accountability
Saara Banwat, BBA LLB (Hons.), Symbiosis Law School, Pune
ABSTRACT
Jurisprudence on sexual harassment at the workplace in India has advanced into a complete statutory law through the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 also referred to as (POSH Act). Nonetheless the modern employment forms, characterized by inter-departmental movements, contractual labour, and the gig-economy, reveal structural gaps in enforcement. The Supreme Court ruling in Sohail Malik v. Union of India establishes the primacy of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in the workplace of the aggrieved woman supporting the victim-centric approach. However, at the same time, the verdict also demonstrates a serious gap in Section 13 of the POSH Act, wherein no light is shed on the accountability when the respondent is an employee of another employer or department. This paper argues that to achieve a significant redress on POSH, statutory change through a joint employer responsibility, more effective penalties, and built-in monitoring systems are needed through reviewing compliance trends, challenges of the gig-economy and judicial supervision in recent years.
