Nightmare at Nashik BPO

Relationship gone sour? a bunch of boardroom predators, abusing their professional power? Or a larger design aimed at entrapment and religious conversions? A case rife with dire allegations, and potentially more than one victim and aggressor, has exploded in what would seem an unlikely venue: a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) office in Nashik.

The tech giant has found the storm so damaging that it has shut operations at the BPO, asking its employees to work from home instead. This was after Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran made a statement, calling the complaints “gravely concerning and anguishing”, even as it scaled up to a full-blown political slugfest, parties moving in to weaponise the case.

‘CABAL OF BULLIES’

Questions swirl around the cases, meanwhile, as social media darkens with invective. The nine FIRs filed relate to a welter of charges, prima facie confusing. But all centre around an alleged cabal who are said to have abused their senior positions by forming a bully group. Besides rape on pretext of marriage or for a job, they stand charged with sexual harassment at the workplace, and hurting religious sentiments. Seven of the accused have been arrested, one is at large.

The unravelling began this February, as a political activist approached Nashik police claiming a Hindu woman working in the local TCS BPO had been “manipulated”, and was seen observing the Ramzan fast. The police penetrated the organisation by placing some of its personnel as housekeeping staff, then swooped in to take action.

The first FIR was registered at Deolali Camp police station by a victim who was in a relationship with one of the accused, Danish Shaikh. He’s said to have concealed his marriage from her, and the two had a showdown when this came to light.

Her family approached political workers; the police complaint ensued. A top cop says another accused, Toufiq Attar, allegedly blackmailed and exploited the victim after threatening to reveal her relationship to her family and society. Shaikh, Attar and Nida Khan, an HR manager still at large, have also been charged with hurting religious sentiments by making derogatory remarks about Hindu deities.

SNOWBALLING CHARGES

Then, eight more women victims and a man came forward and filed complaints with Mumbai Naka police station. That trio of accused apart, Shahrukh Hussain Shaukat Qureshi, Raza Rafiq Memon, Asif Ansari and Ashwini Chainani have been arrested, the last an HR official charged with failing to respond to a victim’s complaints on inappropriate advances by Memon and Qureshi, discouraging her from escalating the issue, and for siding with the accused. All this while the mandated organisational safety mechanisms were all in place.

The FIRs allege the accused deliberately targeted those belonging to other faiths, made demeaning comments on Hinduism, glorified Islam in conversion bids, made vulgar comments about women colleagues, touching and leering at them, and asking personal questions. A male employee charges he was forced to eat non-vegetarian food and pray in the Islamic way, four women have complained of sexual harassment, three have claimed both. The first victim, who was reportedly shaken up and needed counselling, has also invoked the SC/ ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Women cops in plainclothes went to the office and counselled other victims.

An SIT is in place, and the Anti Terrorism Squad and NIA have been sounded out for possible linkages. Advocate Baba Sayyad, representing some accused, says many charges are on minor incidents from two-three years ago, being blown up and clubbed together in a string of FIRs filed within days, after the first case acquired a political colour. “They had friendly relations,” he says.

Politically, the fire wasn’t friendly. Saying “all the victims are Hindus and Marathi”, Ajit Chavan of the BJP taunted the Thackeray cousins on their silence. The Devendra Fadnavis government’s recent anti-conversion bill has got its first big talking point.