The Madras High Court has directed the Ministry of Defence to ensure the existence of Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in the Armed Forces in accordance with the mandate of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of 2013.
Justice R.N. Manjula issued the direction after coming across a case of a woman flight lieutenant in the Indian Air Force (IAF) having been forced to approach Coimbatore city police to lodge a rape complaint against her colleague since she was dissatisfied with the action taken by her employer.
The judge also ordered conduct of gender sensitisation programmes for the Armed Forces personnel in order to achieve the objects of the POSH Act of 2013 and directed the High Court Registry to mark a copy of her judgement to the Defence Secretary and Union Home Secretary for follow up action.
