Workplace mental harassment in India — what to do in 2026

India does not have one universal workplace statute called the “Mental Harassment Act”. Your remedy depends on what actually happened: sexual harassment, discrimination, threats, stalking, retaliation, wage or service grievance, unsafe work, or repeated bullying contrary to employment policy. Write a dated fact record, preserve lawful evidence, identify the correct complaint path, and ask for specific protective and corrective action.

“Mental harassment” describes the impact but may not identify the legal issue. A useful complaint states observable conduct:

A strict deadline or negative appraisal is not automatically harassment. A pattern of targeted abuse, threats, sexual conduct, discriminatory treatment or retaliation may be. Precision makes your grievance harder to dismiss.

Caste-based abuse may also engage the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Disability-based exclusion may also engage the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Those are extra routes, not a reason to skip the workplace complaint.

Create a private chronology with date, time, place, people present, exact words or act, your response, witnesses and immediate work or health impact. Link each entry to an existing record rather than rewriting history later.

Preserve:

• employment contract, handbook, code of conduct and grievance/POSH policy;
• original emails, chats, meeting invitations and task changes;
• appraisal goals, feedback, attendance and leave records;
• complaint acknowledgements and responses;
• names of direct witnesses, without coaching them;
• medical records you choose to rely on; and
• a list of evidence held by the employer, such as CCTV or access logs, for a preservation request.

Cloud-backup the folder and keep a local copy. Print the key exhibits. If the conduct has caused anxiety, depression or a physical illness, a diagnosis or counselling note you choose to rely on is evidence of impact, not a substitute for the fact record. Emergency mental-health care should not wait for a workplace process — Tele-MANAS 14416 is the official 24×7 line.

Do not steal confidential client files, secretly access another employee’s account, alter messages or publish allegations on social media. Preserve only material you lawfully possess. Audio or video of a conversation you are yourself a party to raises policy and evidentiary issues; Indian law is not a single “always admissible” statute. Secret recordings of people who are not party to your conversation can attract other offences. Get legal advice before recording.

This is an action sequence, not a 30-day statutory clock. POSH has its own three-month window. Labour and police routes follow their own law. Do not wait for an informal “cooling off” to consume a limitation period that actually applies.

1. Immediate danger: call 112. Leave the location if you can do so safely. Medical care first.
2. Write the chronology the same day. One event per numbered paragraph. Exact words, not adjectives.
3. Ask for preservation in writing. Email HR / the committee / the head of office asking that specified mailboxes, CCTV, access logs and the relevant file be retained.
4. Pick the correct first forum from the table above. Sexual harassment of an aggrieved woman → Internal Committee, Local Committee or SHe-Box. Other bullying → named workplace policy / Grievance Redressal Committee if you are a covered worker / service rules if you are a government employee.
5. File in writing and keep the acknowledgement. Use the sample below. Ask for interim safety (no one-to-one contact, neutral reporting manager) without demanding a final finding in the first letter.
6. If the Internal Committee stalls on a POSH complaint, escalate as in POSH complaint ignored by the Internal Committee. An appeal against an IC recommendation, where the 2013 Act provides it, is a separate path: POSH section 18 appeal.
7. Labour channel, if you are a covered worker. The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025. Section 4 requires an industrial establishment employing 20 or more workers to have a Grievance Redressal Committee for disputes relating to an individual worker’s employment. Coverage depends on the Code’s definitions. The Ministry of Labour’s SAMADHAN portal accepts specified industrial-dispute and labour-law claims; it is not a universal HR box.
8. Police, where the facts may be an offence. Give facts and evidence. You do not need to choose the final penal section yourself. Freeze-sourced BNS, 2023 provisions that may apply to matching facts — not a menu to invent IPC numbers — include section 351 (criminal intimidation), section 75 (sexual harassment), section 74 (assault or criminal force to outrage modesty), section 78 (stalking), section 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty), section 76 (assault with intent to disrobe) and section 77 (voyeurism). An Internal Committee inquiry and an FIR can run together. If the station writes only a non-cognizable entry, see police complaint entered as NC but FIR needed.
9. Do not sign a resignation, “full and final” or broad non-disparagement under pressure without advice. Forced resignation is a labour/service fact pattern, not a reason to disappear the file.
10. Public-authority employer: you can add RTI for existing, non-exempt process records (sample below). RTI does not punish a colleague and does not override POSH confidentiality.

Your first written complaint can request interim steps without demanding a final finding. Depending on the facts, ask for:

• no direct one-to-one contact while the complaint is examined;
• a neutral reporting manager or meeting witness;
• preservation of specified email, CCTV, access and HR records;
• protection against retaliation;
• a written investigation timetable and decision; and
• emergency security or medical support.

Keep the request proportionate. Do not ask the employer to circulate intimate or confidential details more widely than necessary.

The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 defines sexual harassment and provides a specialised process for an “aggrieved woman”, whether employed or not, in relation to a workplace. The definition includes unwelcome physical contact or advances, a demand or request for sexual favours, sexually coloured remarks, showing pornography, and other unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature. Creating a hostile work environment of that kind is inside the Act; ordinary rudeness without a sexual element is not.

An employer must constitute an Internal Committee at each qualifying office or administrative unit where the statutory employee threshold is met (the Act uses ten workers as the IC threshold). The committee must include a senior woman employee as Presiding Officer and an external member. Failure to constitute an IC is itself an offence under section 26 of the Act. The district Local Committee receives complaints where an establishment has fewer than ten workers or where the complaint is against the employer. The Government’s SHe-Box provides an official online channel that routes complaints to the appropriate committee.

A written complaint is ordinarily made within three months of the incident, or of the last incident in a series (section 9). The committee may extend that period by a further period up to three months when circumstances prevented timely filing, with reasons recorded. Do not wait for an internal “informal review” to consume this window. The committee is to complete inquiry within 90 days (section 11). Conciliation, where requested by the aggrieved woman, cannot be based on a monetary settlement. Confidentiality of the complaint, identities, proceedings, recommendations and action is required under section 16. The committee process is not a substitute for police where conduct may be criminal.

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 came into force on 21 November 2025. Section 4 requires an industrial establishment employing 20 or more workers to have one or more Grievance Redressal Committees for disputes relating to an individual worker’s employment.

Coverage depends on the Code’s definitions. Not every employee, manager, consultant or workplace fits the “worker” and “industrial establishment” route. If covered, the provision contains a one-year period for applying to the Committee and a 30-day Committee proceeding period, followed by specified further steps. Read the current Code and rules or obtain advice for your category rather than copying a generic deadline.

State Shops and Establishments Acts still regulate hours, leave and some working conditions in many States. The Code on Wages, 2019 addresses wage protection. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 addresses maternity. None of these is a “Mental Harassment Act”.

Government employees may instead have conduct rules, departmental grievance, vigilance, tribunal or service-law remedies. Preserve the appointment status and the order being challenged.

Use one event per numbered paragraph. Attach an index, not a chaotic phone dump.

Workplace / Internal Committee complaint (adapt the heading to POSH or general grievance):

To: The Presiding Officer, Internal Committee / Head of HR
[Organisation]
Subject: Formal workplace grievance / POSH complaint and evidence-preservation request

I, [Name], employee ID [ ], designation [ ], complain against
[Name, designation] as follows:

1. On [date/time] at [place/channel], [person] stated/did [exact fact].
   Evidence: [email / chat / witness].
2. On [date/time], [next exact fact]. Evidence: [...].
3. I reported this to [person] on [date], reference [ID]; the response was [fact].
4. The conduct affected work/safety by [specific result]. Medical record
   attached only if I rely on it.

I request:
(a) acknowledgement and a confidential process;
(b) preservation of [identified mailboxes, CCTV, access logs, HR file];
(c) interim measures proportionate to safety (no one-to-one contact /
    neutral reporting manager / [other lawful step]);
(d) a reasoned written outcome under [named policy / POSH Act].

I am available for a confidential interview. I request protection against
retaliation.

[Name, employee ID, contact, date]

For a POSH complaint you may also ask the committee to consider interim measures under section 12 and, after inquiry, recommendations including compensation under section 15 — those are statutory headings, not a promise of any rupee figure.

If a labour dispute is later referred, pleadings belong in that forum with appointment letter, termination or forced-resignation papers, the harassment chronology and medical records you rely on. Do not treat a template as a walk-in filing right; a reference or the Code’s specified next step may be required.

After complaining, keep doing ordinary work where safe and request instructions in writing. Record sudden access removal, shift change, adverse memo, isolation, threat, transfer or appraisal change with dates and comparators. Do not assume every later management action is retaliation; show the timing and inconsistency.

Reply to a show-cause or performance notice on its merits. A separate retaliation allegation does not make the underlying work response optional. POSH section 16 is confidentiality, not a “retaliation offence” number. Ask in writing for protection; put each new adverse act in a dated supplement to the same file.

For a public authority employer, RTI can seek existing, non-exempt records: applicable rules, constitution of a committee, file movement, action taken, or your own service records where disclosure is lawful. It cannot conduct an inquiry, punish a colleague or override the POSH Act’s confidentiality rule.

A private company is not a public authority merely because it has an Internal Committee. You can still ask the Labour Department / Women and Child Development Department for records they hold about that establishment.

To: The Public Information Officer
[State] Labour Department / WCD Department

Subject: Application under section 6(1) of the RTI Act, 2005

Please furnish:
1. Whether [Organisation] has filed / reported constitution of an Internal
   Committee under the 2013 Act, and the designations of members as held
   in your records (not personal home addresses).
2. Number of POSH complaints received, disposed and pending in respect of
   that establishment in the last 24 months, as held.
3. Registration / licence status of the establishment under the labour
   law / Shops and Establishments law you administer.
4. Number and status of labour complaints against that establishment as
   held, for [period].
5. Name and office contact of the Labour Officer / conciliation officer
   having jurisdiction over [area].

[Name, address, contact]

Do not seek another person’s medical, disciplinary or intimate complaint record merely to pressure them. Section 8 exemptions and third-party protections may apply. Use the AI RTI Drafter to ask for specific records, not conclusions. File via the online RTI walkthrough.

Under section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, free legal aid is available to women and children, members of SC/ST, persons with disabilities, persons in custody, and persons below the State-prescribed income ceiling, among other listed categories. Walk into the District Legal Services Authority or apply through the State authority. NALSA coordinates the scheme. A panel lawyer is assigned; representation is not billed to the eligible person.

College ragging is a different statutory channel: UGC anti-ragging complaint. Recovery-app abuse is loan-app harassment. Mental-health rights under the 2017 Act are MHCA 2017 rights.

These are freeze-sourced Supreme Court citations, not invented trial outcomes and not a promise about your facts:

• Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997) 6 SCC 241 — workplace sexual-harassment guidelines later codified in the 2013 Act.
• Apparel Export Promotion Council v. A.K. Chopra (1999) 1 SCC 759 — sexual harassment is not limited to physical contact; a safe workplace engages Article 21.
• Medha Kotwal Lele v. Union of India (2013) 1 SCC 297 — implementation of those guidelines.
• Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa — Supreme Court directions on POSH Internal Committee functioning (official source linked below).

Do not cite IPC section numbers that are not in the freeze or the current Code. If you are writing a police complaint, state facts; the station applies the Code in force.

• Citing a non-existent universal “Mental Harassment Act”.
• Writing only “I was tortured” without dates, words or acts.
• Missing the POSH complaint period while waiting for informal mediation.
• Sending confidential complaint material to a mass mailing list.
• Removing employer/client data unrelated to the grievance.
• Treating ordinary performance management as automatically unlawful.
• Resigning or signing a release under pressure without advice.
• Using RTI to demand punishment rather than existing records.
• Inventing IPC section numbers on the complaint.

There is no one universal statute by that name. The remedy follows the conduct, employment category and applicable law or policy.

No. POSH addresses sexual harassment of an aggrieved woman in relation to a workplace, not every form of bullying.

For a POSH complaint, check the district Local Committee and SHe-Box route. Failure to constitute an IC where the Act requires it is an offence under section 26.

The committee may extend by up to a further three months where circumstances prevented timely filing and reasons are recorded. Submit without avoidable delay.

Recording can raise privacy, policy and evidentiary issues. Prefer written follow-ups and seek legal advice for your facts.

Ask in writing for a safe, neutral process and an appropriate support or committee arrangement under the applicable policy or law.

Only if your dispute and status fit a claim type and jurisdiction available under the labour framework. The portal is not a universal HR complaint box.

Not simply because it is requested. POSH confidentiality and RTI exemptions must be applied; seek non-confidential process records where appropriate.

Often yes. Central employees may have CCS (Conduct) Rules and tribunal or departmental routes; State employees have corresponding service rules. Keep the appointment order.

A covered workman may have a labour-forum path for termination or a resignation said to be under duress. That is fact-specific. Get advice before you treat a template as a filing.

• POSH Internal Committee ignored
• Appeal a POSH Internal Committee finding
• NC written but FIR needed
• File a CPGRAMS grievance
• State grievance portals
• File RTI online
• RTI first appeal
• Citizen RTI playbook
• Mental health rights, MHCA 2017
• Anti-ragging complaint
• Loan-app harassment
• File a cybercrime complaint
• AI RTI Drafter
• The RTI Playbook

• Ministry of Women and Child Development — SHe-Box
• Ministry of Labour — Industrial Relations Code, 2020 official Gazette text
• Ministry of Labour — 2026 labour-code compliance handbook
• Ministry of Labour — SAMADHAN portal
• NALSA — legal aid
• Supreme Court — Aureliano Fernandes v. State of Goa