The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has discovered that only about 40 complaints were received by the Local Complaints Committees (LCCs) in the districts under the Delhi government, in the 2019 to 2021 period. While the southwest district handled only three cases in the last three years, the west district has dealt with zero cases. Cases of timely redressal are also few and far between.
A detailed report has been submitted by DCW to the Women and Child Development Ministry, Delhi government, about the gaps in the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) law. The Commission has also ordered that each district have an actively functioning and efficient LCC in place.
The DCW points out in the report that there is a general lack of awareness about the existence of the LCCs, which may be the reason why the number of complaints received is less. Therefore, the DCW recommends setting up online and offline complaint mechanisms so that there is better accessibility for the citizens of Delhi.
As per the report, the law states that the LCCs should be chaired by notable women from the social work domain. However, in most district LCCs, external members from NGOs were missing altogether.
The report further revealed that the LCCs lack a dedicated office space to operate out of, and there is a paucity of staff and budget, which hinders their operations.
In some districts, there is no special budget allocated for the LCCs at all.
The Commission also suggests that the Delhi government spread more awareness about the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act.
