This Article is From Nov 30, 2013

Allegations of harassment, cover-up at firm owned by Dainik Bhaskar

A 42-year-old says relentless sexual harassment by the CEO forced her to quit her job.

New Delhi: The rape case against Tehelka founder Tarun Tejpal has propelled a national debate around sexual harassment and violence against women in the workplace.

The discourse is bringing to the surface other cases of women being violated, often by powerful men.

A 42-year-old who worked with the media company the Dainik Bhaskar Group, says relentless sexual harassment by Harish Bhatia, the CEO of the group's radio stations, forced her to quit her job in 2010.

"It was very tough and it was really stressful. I would cry, just lock myself in the bathroom and cry. All I can say is I've gone through a big mental agony. It really shook my confidence completely," she said.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) failed to support her, she says, and since 2010, her case has been languishing in a Delhi court.  

She said that when she asked the NCW to help her, it asked My FM for its response. The radio station, she says, lied that in keeping with the law, an internal redressal committee would handle her complaint. My FM has refuted those charges.

The woman says that  even the fact that Mr Bhatia had signed the response sent to the NCW did not prompt an inquiry by women's rights group.

Two other women who used to work for the same company have said they quit their jobs at My FM after being similarly harassed by Mr Bhatia and are listed as witnesses in her case.

In a statement to NDTV, the Dainik Bhaskar Group said that the woman first reported a case of "mental harassment before NCW (the National Commission for Women). Then she withdrew the complaint and filed a second complaint improving her version by including allegations of sexual harassment. On behalf of the company, we submitted in NCW that we have an in-house committee to look into complaints for sexual harassment and expressed our willingness to look into the matter. However, she refused to have the committee inquire into the matter."

The Group said it is "willing to inquire into the matter provided she is interested (to) cooperate and expresses her willingness for the same."

But the complainant says there was no internal redressal system at the office or any committee as per the Supreme Court's Vishakha guidelines to which she could take her complaint. Instead she said she felt betrayed by her own organisation that, according to her, chose to support its CEO instead of standing by her.

"No one wants to go to court. It's time consuming and the delays really take a toll. But I was left with absolutely no option. The NCW says I didn't wait for their process to complete, but I waited for two months and all I got was adjournments," she said.
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