Sexual harassment: Companies in the line of fire

By Suhita Roy as published in The Economic Times April 12, 2017

No respect for Women

Cases of sexual harassment against startup cofounders and senior management of companies are coming to light every day. We take a look at the cases that created headlines.

Scoop Whoop co-founder  Suparn Pandey

A former senior executive filed an FIR against Pandey, on Wednesday, accusing him of sexually harassing her during the two years she worked for the website. The complainant has alleged that Pandey sent her lewd videos and even, physically violated her several times. 'Mr. Pandey got so bold as to send me a lewd video over the official Gmail chat. These incidents, she claims in her FIR, kept repeating even after she made a complaint to the other cofounders who promised to put a stop to Pandey's harassment but did not take any action against him.

TVF Founder  Arunabh Kumar

An anonymous blog by 'Indian Fowler' post detailing instances of alleged sexual harassment by Kumar triggered a social media storm with more women saying they too were subjected to similar advances from the 32-year-old entrepreneur. Police has registered an FIR in the case and Kumar has received an anticipatory bail in the case.

uber

Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler had alleged her boss of sexual harassment. The identity of the accused is not clear, but Uber has been facing major flak in the way the case was handled. Uber was accused of covering up complaints of repeated sexual harassment which Fowler documented in her blog post titled "Reflecting On One Very, Very Strange Year At Uber". Fowler says her manager threatened to fire her if she kept reporting problems to HR. At this point, she left the company.

iGate and Infosys former  CEO Phanees Murthy

Phaneesh Murthy faced his first sexual harassment lawsuit at Infosys when his former executive secretary Reka Maximovitch complained of sexual harassment. He faced a second charge around the same time when Jennifer Griffith leveled similar complaints resulting in a $ 800,000 settlement. Infosys subsequently settled the lawsuit of of court for $3 million & fired him in 2002.
In 2013, Araceli Roiz, an employee at iGate claimed of sexual harassment. An investigation by outside legal counsel found him guilty and Murthy was subsequently sacked.

Tehelka Formaer Editor Tarun Tejpal

Tarun Tejpal was accused of sexual assault in 2013 by a woman colleague. A case was filed by Goa Police, where the incident of assault took place. The FIR against Tejpal included charges of rape and a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. He was subsequently arrested but granted bail bi the Supreme Court in 2014. The case continues at a Goa court.

TERI Former Chief R.K.Pachauri

The former Teri chief has been accused of sexual harassment by three women. Police filed an FIR in 2015, with allegations of of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation. Accusations were first leveled by a 29-year-old research associate with Teri. Following the charges Teri in 2015 announced that Pachauri had "proceeded on leave". A Delhi court in 2016 said there was sufficient material to proceed against him with a case.

exual harassment: Companies in the line of fire