The National Commission for Women on Monday accused technology firm Tata Consultancy Services of failing to comply with the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act at its office in Nashik.
The company has a common internal complaints committee for its offices in Nashik and Pune, which contravenes the law, the commission said. The Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, 2013, requires workplaces to set up these committees to look into cases of alleged sexual misconduct.
The statement came four days after a suspended Tata Consultancy Services employee, Nida Khan, was arrested in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Thursday. She was held over 40 days after being named in a first information report for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
Khan has also been named as a co-accused in an alleged rape and sexual exploitation case.
Between March 26 and April 3, the Nashik Police filed nine cases against eight employees of Tata Consultancy Services for allegedly sexually harassing nine persons and hurting religious sentiments. The other seven TCS employees have also been arrested.
After the matter came to light, the firm had suspended the employees accused of involvement in the case and launched an internal inquiry.
The National Commission for Women had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter and set up a fact-finding committee. The panel met the complainants in the matter, witnesses, the company's internal complaints committee and police officers.
The committee’s findings
On Monday, the commission said that its fact-finding committee “was shocked at the insensitivity demonstrated by the members of the POSH committee/IC [internal complaints] committee” of the firm.
The women’s commission alleged that the Nashik office had a “deeply disturbing and toxic workplace environment marked by pervasive sexual harassment and abuse of authority”, and “systemic bullying”.
“The complainants were indeed sexually harassed and faced attempts of molestation,” the press note quoted the fact-finding panel as having found.
The persons accused in the matter “indulged in degrading and belittling the faith in Hinduism and created a coercive atmosphere through repeated anti-religious commentary directed at women employees,” the commission claimed.
It alleged that several women employees wanted to file complaints but were afraid to do so because of social pressure and the absence of a formal complaint mechanism.
“Many victims noted that younger employees (Generation Z) were particularly susceptible to being influenced by such anti-religious discourse,” the statement added.
Generation Z generally refers to persons born between the late 1990s and 2010.
The National Commission for Women recommended that the authorities and the company’s management must take action in the matter and ensure compliance with statutory safeguards.
AIMIM corporator’s home likely to be razed
The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation issued a notice to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen corporator Matin Patel, claiming that some of his properties, including a home where Khan allegedly stayed before being arrested, were built illegally, The Indian Express reported.
The structures will be demolished if Patel fails to provide a satisfactory response to the notice, the municipal corporation said. Evidence of illegal construction could also lead to his membership of the civic body being cancelled, Mayor Sameer Rajurkar was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
There are no provisions in Indian law that allow for the demolition of property as a punitive measure. However, the practice has become commonplace in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.
In November 2024, the Supreme Court held as illegal the practice of demolishing properties of persons accused of crimes as a punitive measure.
The complaint
The complainant in the matter, a 23-year-old woman, alleged that Khan taught her to recite the kalma – the Islamic declaration of faith – observe the roza fast and change her dressing behaviour, The Hindu reported.
As the complainant is a member of the Scheduled Caste community, Khan has also been booked under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Prevention of Atrocities Act.
The police have alleged that Khan, along with two others named Danish Sheikh and Tausif Attar, had made derogatory remarks about Hindu deities.
They also alleged that while Sheikh sexually assaulted the complainant on the pretext of marriage, Attar molested her by seeking sexual favours and threatening to reveal to her family that she had physical relations at the workplace.
On April 17, the company had said that it has a “zero-tolerance policy towards any form of coercion or misconduct”, and that it was cooperating with the law enforcement agencies “so that the matter is investigated thoroughly, transparently and brought to a rightful conclusion”.
Written by Nachiket Deuskar. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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