Kolkata: Apprehension of sexual harassment ‘in future’ cannot lead to a complaint under POSH Act, Calcutta High Court held on Aug 31, upholding the setting aside of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) report against a DSP by a CID contractual employee.The division bench of Justice Madhuresh Prasad and Justice Prasenjit Biswas further held that the complaint needs to be filed within three months of the date of the last harassment incident. In this case, the complaint was filed in Jan 2023 when the date of the last alleged incident was July 2022. The statutory period ended in Oct 2022, it was observed.A contractual staff at CID office had filed a complaint of harassment against DSP. She alleged that between Sept 2021 and July 2022, the DSP would touch her inappropriately. The complainant further stated that after July 2022, the senior officer returned from a leave and joined the same section as hers. “On seeing him in the office, she apprehended that she may be posted under him again and may have to face the same harassment again,” the victim’s counsel submitted.The ICC in its 2023 report, found the allegations to be true. A departmental action against the misconduct as per service rule was opined by the committee. These recommendations were turned down by the West Bengal Administrative Tribunal.The order of the Tribunal was challenged by the State. The complainant did not appear before the Tribunal. Despite service of notice, the complainant also did not appear in the proceeding before HC.“The Act does not mention or contemplate a sexual harassment based on apprehension of sexual harassment in the mind of a complainant to constitute sexual harassment for the purposes of making of a complaint under the Act, let alone a report being submitted, recommending action under the Act, as was done in the present case,” the division bench observed.
