dna special: 'Tehelka' stings Ahmedabad cos into prevention mode

What harm the two sexual harassment cases hitting the headlines have done to the social fabric is another matter, but they have definitely set the alarm bells ringing across majority city-based companies. After the the episode of Tehelka’s editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal as well as the other involving a retired Supreme Court judge, companies  are in a rush to set up committees to deal with such incidents at their own workplaces. However, many firms here are yet to form panels in this regard.

Lamenting over the absence of such a policy in many companies, an official of a leading industry body here said, only few companies have a committee to deal with sexual harassment complaints. “One can count these companies on fingers. But post-Tehelka episode, many have seriously started thinking to have one,” he said.

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI) is among the ones that have already set up a committee on ‘prevention of sexual harassment’.

Expressing the necessity to have a committee on such matters, spokesperson of chamber, Archish Shah said: “GCCI has decided to issue letters to every member of the chamber to have a policy on prevention of sexual harassment and form panels to deal with such cases,” he said.

Without naming the companies, chairperson of Assocham Gujarat, Bhagyesh Soneji, too said some promoters met recently to discuss the pros and cons of this policy. “They are mostly from the manufacturing sector and are in favour of introducing the policy, which will give more professional freedom to women while working in male-dominated workplaces. However, some were of the opinion that before introducing the policy we need to change our mindset,” she said.

However, city-based IT firm, Motif Inc, had such a policy in place for almost a decade now. “After working in the US for 10 years, we know how sensitive this issue is. We implemented this policy long back. We make our employees aware of the policy on prevention of sexual harassment during the induction programme. This helps greatly in curbing such incidents,” said co-founder & COO of Motif Inc, Parul Mehta.

A leading telecom company in Gujarat too implemented this policy a few years back. “We have a very strong mechanism to deal with such issues. In one such case, we sacked a senior male official involved in harassing a female employee. Such stern actions instill confidence among the female employees to work with freedom,” said the official of the company.

However, instances of misuse of such a policy have also come to light.

Narrating one such incident, an official working with an automobile dealer said a male employee had sent a text message to a female staff from a colleague’s cellphone. “She registered a complaint and since the male staff had no evidence to prove his innocence he was dismissed,” the official said.