NHRC: Issues women’s safety advisory, reports due in two months

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued an advisory on women’s safety at workplaces and in public spaces, asking Union and state authorities to report on implementation progress within two months. The commission said its recommendations cover eight areas, including infrastructure, policing, survivor support and cybercrime against women.

The advisory, titled “Women’s Safety at Work and Public Spaces”, was sent to the secretaries of ten Union ministries, the Railway Board chairperson and the chief secretaries or administrators of all states and Union Territories, according to the NHRC. It calls for an Action Taken Report, or ATR, explaining the progress made on its recommendations.

The commission said women’s safety remained a concern despite stringent laws protecting their rights. It linked safe workplaces and public spaces to women’s ability to participate fully in employment, describing safety as essential to their constitutional entitlement to justice and equal opportunities.

Eight areas spanning prevention and support

The NHRC identified awareness about women’s safety and sexual harassment, infrastructure, bystander intervention, the role of the police, survivor support, cybercrime against women, long-term reforms and other measures as the advisory’s eight areas of action. Bystander intervention means encouraging people who witness harassment or unsafe conduct to respond rather than remain passive.

The recipients named in the commission’s announcement include the ministries of Women and Child Development, Education, Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Labour and Employment, and Corporate Affairs. It also names Road Transport and Highways, Housing and Urban Affairs, and Health and Family Welfare, alongside the Railway Board.

The scope therefore extends beyond the handling of complaints inside individual workplaces. The NHRC’s announcement places public-space safety, infrastructure and police involvement alongside awareness and support for survivors. Its request is for progress reports on implementation, rather than a statement that the recommendations have already been carried out.

The commission cited women’s labour-force participation of 34.6 per cent in September 2026 and about 4.4 lakh reported cases of crimes against women in a National Crime Records Bureau report published in 2026. These are figures cited by the NHRC; its announcement does not specify the reference period for the crime cases, so they should not be read as a count of crimes committed during 2026.

The NHRC said the figures illustrated continuing safety challenges and the need for sustained action. Its announcement does not provide an exact calendar date for submission of the two-month implementation reports.

The workplace complaint system already in place

The advisory sits alongside an existing workplace framework under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly called the POSH Act. A Press Information Bureau (PIB) overview dated 12 February 2026 explains that the law covers women across public and private workplaces, organised and unorganised sectors, including domestic workers.

According to the PIB overview, employers must establish an Internal Committee in workplaces with ten or more employees. This is the workplace body responsible for handling sexual-harassment complaints under the Act.

For workplaces with fewer than ten employees, or complaints against an employer, the framework provides a district-level Local Committee, the PIB said. District Officers are responsible for setting up these committees. The distinction matters because access to a complaint mechanism is not confined to women employed in larger organisations.

The PIB overview describes prevention as an employer responsibility, not merely a response after a complaint. It says employers must build awareness of the law and women’s rights, with regular engagement and training for employees.

The same overview describes a time-bound inquiry process, with inquiries to be completed within 90 days. That workplace inquiry period is separate from the NHRC’s two-month request for authorities to report progress on its advisory.

Monitoring also operates at several levels. According to the PIB, Internal and Local Committees prepare annual reports for their respective employers or District Officers, and the District Officer sends a consolidated report to the state government. The appropriate government can seek relevant information and authorise inspections of records and workplaces connected with sexual-harassment cases.

Digital reporting depends on the committees

The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched the SHe-Box portal on 29 August 2024, according to the PIB overview. SHe-Box, short for Sexual Harassment electronic Box, provides a central online platform for registering workplace sexual-harassment complaints.

The PIB said complaints submitted through the portal are automatically forwarded to the relevant Internal or Local Committee using the details supplied by the complainant. The portal therefore serves as a route to the complaint-handling bodies, rather than replacing them.

Features described in the February overview include complaint-status tracking, multilingual support and a resource hub containing training material and information on the redressal process. The PIB also said the portal emphasises confidentiality; that description is the government’s account of its safeguards.

For monitoring, the PIB said the platform requires workplaces to upload committee details, annual reports and records of awareness programmes and training. Nodal officers maintain committee information and monitor complaint handling and compliance.

The NHRC’s advisory addresses a wider field than this workplace reporting system, including safety in public spaces and cybercrime against women. The commission has asked the authorities concerned to implement its recommendations and use their Action Taken Reports to explain the progress made within two months.