POSH Act – Appeal Against ICC dismissal of complaint maintainable

judgment dated 19.8.2026 of the High Court of Bombay in Writ Petition No.7430 of 2026 of Mr. Anup Vikal  Vs.   State of Maharashtra and others with connected writ petition

By the email dated 30.10.2023, it was informed that after thorough deliberations of the ICC members, it was found that the nature of allegation did not have sexual element and therefore, not in the purview of ICC

Whether a remedy of appeal under Section 18 of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is available to the aggrieved woman against a mere communication made by the Internal Complaints Committee that the complaint does not involve an element of sexual harassment

The question was whether the email dated 30.10.2023 is “recommendation” within the meaning of Section 13(2) f the POSH Act to maintain an appeal under Section 18 against the same.

In other words, when the ICC inquiry was not conducted and when the complain was rejected at the threshold, the communication dated 30.10.2023 cannot be treated as “recommendation” for filing an appeal.

HELD there is no direct judgment to support the case of the Petitioners that the remedy of appeal under Section 18 of POSH cannot be exercised against decision of the ICC holding that the complaint does not involve an element of sexual harassment. On the other hand, there are couple of judgments which do support the conclusion drawn by me that the remedy of appeal under Section 18 of POSH Act would be available to the aggrieved woman when the ICC makes a decision that the complaint does not involve an element of sexual harassment.