Ch. VIII · §28
Chapter VIII
Miscellaneous
Section
Chapter VIII · Miscellaneous
Section 28
Act not in derogation of any other law
Transcribed from the official India Code source for reading and comparison. PIH plain-language guidance is editorial and separate; this page is not legal advice.
Plain Language
The POSH Act adds remedies and duties on top of existing law — it does not cancel, replace, or diminish any other civil, criminal, service-rule, or labour-law options.
This is a savings clause. It ensures that the Act operates alongside other legal frameworks rather than conflicting with them.
An aggrieved woman can pursue remedies under the POSH Act and simultaneously invoke other legal remedies available to her.
Why It Matters
Without this savings clause, there could be arguments that the POSH Act displaces other remedies — this section closes that argument.
Employers must design compliance processes that account for multiple legal frameworks operating simultaneously: POSH, service rules, labour law, and criminal law.
For employees, this means a POSH complaint does not prevent pursuing criminal charges, civil claims, or labour-law remedies where applicable.
Practical Example
Scenario: An aggrieved woman files a complaint with the Internal Committee and also wants to file a criminal complaint under the Indian Penal Code for the same conduct.
Outcome: Section 28 preserves her right to do both. The POSH process and the criminal process operate independently.
Scenario: An employer's service rules contain a sexual-harassment misconduct provision that is more detailed than the POSH Act's requirements.
Outcome: Both frameworks may apply. The employer must comply with the POSH Act and its service rules, and should not treat one framework as displacing the other without legal advice.
Who Must Act
employer
- Map POSH processes with disciplinary rules, labour obligations, and criminal-law escalation paths.
- Ensure the POSH policy does not inadvertently limit employees' access to other legal remedies.
employee
- A POSH complaint does not prevent you from invoking other legal remedies where available.
ic member
- Understand that the committee's inquiry operates alongside, not in place of, other legal processes.
Common Mistakes
Assuming that filing a POSH complaint bars the aggrieved woman from pursuing criminal or civil remedies — it does not.
Designing POSH policies that require employees to choose between the POSH process and other legal remedies — this conflicts with Section 28.
Treating the POSH inquiry as a substitute for service-rule disciplinary proceedings — both may apply.
Source & Status
- Official source
- India Code, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India
- Source version
- India Code PDF — last updated 31 August 2021
- Source location
- India Code PDF, p. 13
- Retrieved
Statutory blocks are kept separate from PIH plain-language and operational guidance. The reading copy is not legal advice.
Legal review status: counsel-reviewed. All sections have valid documentary counsel evidence and publication signals are enabled.
Judicial material: no verified judicial interpretation is published in this reading copy. Judicial analysis is a separate layer from the statutory transcription and PIH editorial guidance.