At Patel Institute of Science and Management, Bengaluru we strive to create a welcoming and inclusive environment where all genders are treated equally. Any behaviour that involves physical contact, sexual advances, remarks of a sexual nature, or any form of unwelcome physical, verbal, or nonverbal expression will not be tolerated. Our Sexual Harassment Committee works to educate and sensitize students and staff to prevent sexual harassment. If any such incidents occur, they should be reported to the Committee, which will take appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with the college’s rules and regulations.

Policy:

Patel Institute of Science and Management is fully committed to complying with the UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations of 2015. As such, the university has established an independent framework to prevent, address and take disciplinary action against any form of sexual harassment of its employees and students. We are dedicated to creating and maintaining a safe environment that is free from gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment, and we have a zero-tolerance policy towards any such behaviour. The university will ensure timely and adequate compliance with the UGC regulations in this regard.

This regulation shall apply to all students, employees (irrespective of their tenure, position, designation, or gender) and visitors (in whatever capacity) of the Institution in all its workplaces and shall come into effect retrospectively from June 2015.

Primary Goals:

• To create awareness among students and employees about sexual harassment and gender 
  sensitization.
• To prevent sexual harassment and to provide a safe and secure learning and working environment.
• To provide a platform for victims of sexual harassment to register their complaints in a safe and confidential manner.
• To conduct impartial inquiries into the complaints of sexual harassment and to ensure that appropriate disciplinary actions are taken against the accused.
• To provide counselling and support to the victims of sexual harassment.
• To maintain records of all the complaints received and actions taken for future reference.

Functions:

1. Develop a safe, accessible, and sensitive mechanism for registering complaints of sexual harassment.
2. Take prompt action upon receiving complaints of sexual harassment, including conducting thorough and impartial enquiries, providing assistance and redressal to the victims, recommending disciplinary action, and taking immediate action against the harasser, if necessary.
3. Monitor and follow up on the progress of the action taken to ensure that appropriate measures have been taken.

4. Recommend that the college authority provide assistance to the complainant if she chooses to file a complaint under the Indian Penal Code or any other relevant law.

5. Recommend that the college authority provide a medical intervention with the consent of the complainant, or without consent in cases where the complainant is physically or mentally incapacitated.

Recommendthat the college authority arranges for appropriate psychological, emotional, and physical support, such as counselling, security, and other assistance, to the victim if she desires.

Authorities:

To ensure the effective administration of the objectives of the regulation, the Institution shall have the following authorities duly constituted with the approval of the Chairman.

Internal Complaints Committee (ICC):

According to the UGC regulation, the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) will be the main body responsible for addressing complaints or grievances related to sexual harassment. The ICC will operate independently, with the power to make recommendations and issue disciplinary measures as necessary. The Committee consists of:

Complaint of Sexual Harassment and Enquiry Procedure

1. Complaint Procedure:

• To initiate a complaint, the person who experienced the incident is required to submit a written complaint to the ICC, signed and dated, as soon as possible after the incident. The complaint must be submitted within three months from the date of the incident or the second incident in case of a series of incidents. If the person cannot make the complaint in writing, the Presiding Officer or any Member of the ICC shall provide reasonable assistance to the person to make the complaint in writing. The ICC may extend the time limit for up to one month, with reasons recorded in writing, if satisfied that circumstances prevented the person from filing a complaint within the specified period.
• If there is an unreasonable delay in reporting the incident, the ICC may consider it as a factor in determining the severity of the grievance and/or the intent of the person who experienced the incident.
• If the person who experienced the incident is physically or mentally incapacitated or deceased, their friends, relatives, colleagues, co-students, psychologists, or any other associate may file a complaint on their behalf.
• If none of the ICC members is immediately available, a student may notify the complaint through the concerned Counsellor or Head of the Department, and any other person may notify the complaint through the concerned Dean or  The ICC shall receive the complaint without recording any comment or opinion. The date of notification shall be deemed the date of submission of the complaint to the ICC.

2. ICC Enquiry Procedure:

• Investigation Process: Upon receipt of a complaint, the ICC will refer it to a Select Committee of Members of the ICC specifically constituted by the Presiding Officer for  The Select Committee will examine the complaint and report on its veracity to the Presiding Officer within 7 working days if needed by summoning the complainant and/or by making independent preliminary enquiries. The report will clearly state the reasons that have led to its decision on the veracity of the complaint. The independent enquiry may include examining evidence from CCTV cameras installed by the University and opinions about the general behavioural traits of the complainant/offender from discrete sources.
• Notice to Respondent: Based on the report of the Select Committee, if the complaint is to be further enquired about, the Presiding Officer will send a notice to the respondent with a copy of the complaint, seeking their appearance before the ICC along with their response in writing on a specified date which shall not be earlier than 7 working days from the date of the  A notice will also be sent to the complainant for their presence on the specified date. If the case needs urgent attention, the notice period may be reduced at the discretion of the Presiding Officer.
• Notice to Complainant: If the Select Committee is not convinced of the veracity of the complaint and has so reported, the Presiding Officer will send a notice to the complainant with a copy of the report of the Select Committee, seeking their appearance before the ICC along with their response in writing on a specified date which shall not be earlier than 7 working days from the date of the  If the case needs urgent attention, the notice period may be reduced at the discretion of the Presiding Officer.
• Hearing procedure: The ICC will conduct the enquiry/hearing dispassionately by following normal judicial  If warranted, the parties may be allowed to produce documentary evidence/witnesses in support of their claim or defence. However, either party will not be allowed to be represented by any third party, including an advocate.
• The ICC, at its discretion, may hear and/or cross-examine the Parties separately or jointly.
• If the Respondent fails to appear on the specified date of the Hearing, the ICC may reschedule the Hearing for the same day of the following  If the Respondent fails to appear again, the ICC may proceed to decide on an Ex-Parte basis.
• If a Party requests additional time to defend their case, they may be granted up to 7 days at a time, with no more than two such extensions permitted. 
• If a Party fails to appear on the extended dates, the ICC may proceed to decide on an Ex-Parte basis against them.
• The ICC must complete the enquiry proceedings within 45 days of receiving the Complaint and submit its report with recommendations to the Vice Chancellor within 7 working days of completing the  Copies of the report and recommendations will be provided to both Parties.
• The Vice-Chancellor will act on the ICC’s recommendations within 15 days of receipt unless an appeal is filed as per the Regulation.

• The Aggrieved Party (Complainant) may seek conciliation of the matter at any time before or during the enquiry  In such cases, the ICC may facilitate conciliation between the Parties, and if a documented reconciliation is signed by the Parties, all enquiry proceedings of the ICC will be terminated.
• • Monetary payment will not be encouraged as part of any such conciliation.

   

  • Not withstanding such conciliation, if the ICC determines that the conduct of the employee or student (as Respondent) is a serious misconduct/act of indiscipline under the University’s Code of Conduct and Ethics/Disciplinary Rules, it may recommend appropriate punitive action under Clause 6(a) or 6(b) of this  Alternatively, the Vice Chancellor may take such action of their own accord, and any such action will be independent of this Regulation and will not be subject to appeal.

   

Frivolous Complaint

• If the Select Committee, after conducting an independent enquiry, finds that a Complaint filed under this Regulation is false, untrue, or malicious, and the ICC reaches the same conclusion during its enquiry proceedings, the Complainant shall be held accountable for the offence, and punishment shall be awarded as per Clause 6 of this Regulation.
• It should be noted that a Complaint cannot be deemed frivolous solely based on the Complainant’s inability to provide sufficient evidence to support their claim. 
• To establish that a Complaint was filed with malicious intent, appropriate supporting evidence must be provided.

Punishment and Compensation

1. Any University employee who engages in sexual harassment shall be subject to disciplinary action under the Employment Regulations and the prescribed Code of Conduct.
2. Incases where a student is found guilty of sexual harassment, the ICC may recommend one or more of the following punishments, depending on the severity of the offence:
   1. Withholding of student privileges, such as access to the library, auditoria, halls of residence, vehicle parking, scholarships, fee concession, and identity 
   2. Suspension or restriction of entry into the campus for a specific 
3. Imposition of reformative punishments, such as mandatory counselling and/or community 
4. Debarment from writing the semester 
5. Expulsion and removal of the student’s name from the rolls of the institution, including denial of readmission, if the offence warrants such action.
   
   The ICC may recommend monetary compensation to the aggrieved person in the following circumstances, subject to the approval of the Vice  The compensation shall be appropriately determined and shall be recoverable from the offender:

• Mental trauma, pain, suffering, and distress caused to the aggrieved person.
• Loss of career opportunity due to the incident of sexual harassment.

• Medical  expenses  incurred  by  the  victim  for  physical  or  psychiatric treatment.

Confidentiality responsibility of ICC

1. In any complaint investigated by the ICC under this Regulation, it shall ensure that the identities and complaint details of both the aggrieved party and the accused shall be kept confidential by all members of the ICC and shall never be disclosed to the public during or after the investigation process.
2. Pursuant to Section 16 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, no personal or other information related to any complaint received, investigated, and/or resolved by the ICC shall be disclosed under the provisions of the Right to Information Act 2005.

The students may also hand over the written complaint to the Internal Complaints Committee. The Cell  will  act  upon  those  cases which have been forwarded along with the necessary documents.

The following is the summary of the number of cases registered with ICC and resolved successfully.