SHeBox is an online initiative that allows women to file complaints of sexual harassment, which are then resolved on the WCD ministry’s watch.
New Delhi: The status of sexual harassment grievances filed with the internal complaints committee (ICC) of public and private undertakings will soon be uploaded to a common portal, SHeBox, where the public can access the data, sources have told ThePrint.
To create a single database for sexual harassment complaints, it is learnt, the Union ministry of women and child development is compiling information from ICCs and local complaints committees (LCCs, or district-wise panels that oversee smaller firms with fewer than 10 employees) across the country.
This data will then be uploaded to the government’s online portal, the sources said.
“The ministry is in the process of overhauling SHeBox, so as to populate the portal with details of the several ICCs and LCCs across the country,” a senior official in the ministry told ThePrint.
“It (SHeBox) will continue to be a platform for women to make complaints of sexual harassment like it is, but it will be a way of having a single database for complaints as well,” the official added. “But it (the sharing of details) will be voluntary — we won’t force ICCs to give us their data, but actively recommend it.”
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‘A big task’
The government, the official said, will not upload specific complaints since divulging information about sexual harassment would be in contravention of the law, the official said.
“What we are trying to do is upload information about the number of complaints, status of complaints, feedback, constitution of ICCs, members in the ICCs, vacancies etc,” the official added.
“We want to make SheBox a stronger tool for women by ensuring they get all the information they need on it,” the WCD official said.
However, it is unclear when exactly this feature will go live. “It will be a big task, so obviously it wouldn’t happen overnight,” the ministry official added.
The constitution of the ICCs and LCCs was mandated under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act in 2013.
The WCD ministry is said to be working with the National Informatics Centre to redesign SHeBox. Since its inception earlier this year, SHeBox has received 251 complaints, out of which 185 are yet be disposed of.
Each of the complaints received on the portal is forwarded by the WCD ministry to the organisation concerned for action. The ministry then periodically follows up on the status of each case.
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