Year of Establishment:2019

       Introduction:

Adusumilli Gopala krishnaiah& Sugarcane Growers Siddhartha Degree College of Arts & Science Vuyyuru is committed to create and encourage a safe working environment for all the women employed by the institute and to the girl students. The college supports the empowerment of women and has zero tolerance for sexual harassment. As per the guidelines of Supreme Court, UGC, Sexual Harassment of Women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition &Redressal) Act, 2013, an Internal Complaints Committee (Anti– Sexual Harassment Cell) has been established by the college in 2019.

Objectives:

• To develop a policy against sexual harassment of women at the Institute.
• To uphold the commitment of the Institute to provide an environment free of gender based discrimination.
•  To create a healthy environment in the campus where every girl and women employee feels safe and self-confident without any problems relating to gender discrimination and sexual harassment
• To facilitate Redressal of their grievances.
•  To help maintain a harmonious atmosphere at campus and to enable women to pursue their work with dignity and reassurance.
•  Prevent discrimination and sexual harassment, by promoting gender amity among students and employees
•  Deal with cases of discrimination and sexual harassment against women, in a time bound manner, aiming at ensuring support services to the victimized and termination of the harassment
• To evolve a permanent mechanism for the prevention and redressal of sexual harassment cases and other acts of gender based violence at the Institute.

Code of conduct for workplace:

• Sexual harassment in the workplace is a form of sex discrimination which negatively affects the working environment, undermines gender equality at work, creates unfair practices in employment, and adversely impacts the dignity and well-being of workers.

• In an effort to promote the well being of all women employees at the work place the following code of conduct has been prescribed:

• It shall be the duty of the employer to prevent or deter the commission of any act of sexual harassment at the workplace

• Employers should respond promptly to any accusation of sexual harassment, ensuring that alleged victims do not have fear of reprisals or feel that their grievances are being ignored or trivialized.

• In order to effectively prevent sexual harassment at the workplace every employer should adopt, promote, implement and monitor a policy on sexual harassment within workplace.

• All workers, regardless of their sex, age, position, type of contract or status, have a responsibility to ensure that the workplace is free from sexual harassment, to discourage and report unacceptable behavior immediately.

What is Sexual Harassment at the work place?

• Sexual harassment will include such unwelcome sexually determined behavior by any person either individually or in association with other persons or by any person in authority whether directly or by implication such as:

• Eve – teasing

• Physical contact and advances

• Demand of request for sexual favors

• Unsavory remark

• Jokes causing or likely to cause awkwardness or embarrassment

• Gender based insults or sexiest remark

•  Unwelcome sexual overtone in any manner such as over telephone (Obnoxious telephone calls)

• Touching or brushing against any part of the body

• Displaying pornographic or other offensive or derogatory pictures, cartoons, pamphlets or sayings.

• Forcible physical touch or molestation

• Physical confinement against one’s will and any other act likely to violate one’s privacy.

Mechanism for Redressal of complaints:

• Any aggrieved woman may take in writing, a complaint of sexual harassment at workplace to any member of the committee.

•  If the complainant feels that she cannot disclose her identity for any particular reason the complainant shall address the complaint to the Head of the organization and handover the same in person or in a sealed cover.

• Upon receipt of such complaint the Principal shall retain the original complaint with himself and send to Internal complaints committee a gist of the complaint containing all material and relevant details other than the name of the complainant and other details which might disclose the identity of the complainant.

• The Internal Committee can take steps to settle the matter between her and the respondent through conciliation, at the request of aggrieved woman.

• The Internal Committee, shall record the settlement so arrived and forward the same to the employer regarding action taken as specified in the recommendation.

•  Where the Internal Committee of the campus arrives at a conclusion that the allegation against the respondent is malicious or the aggrieved women or any other person making the complaint has produced any forged or misleading document, it may recommend to the competent authority, to act against the woman or the person who has made the complaint.

•   Disciplinary action: Where the conduct of an employee amounts to misconduct in employment as defined in the relevant service rules the employer should initiate appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with the relevant rules.

• The committee shall meet as often as may be needed & appropriate.