A former KPMG employee has filed a police complaint against the company, a top-notch audit firm, of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Seemaa Kamdar/Anshika Misra
Audit firm says it was inquiring into allegations when complainant went to the media
A former KPMG employee has filed a police complaint against the company, a top-notch audit firm, of sexual harassment in the workplace.
In a detailed complaint, Malvika Mehta (name changed), 37, a director with KPMG before her services were terminated last year, has alleged that Vikram Uttamsingh, head of financial advisory services and senior partner of KPMG India, had outraged her modesty.
She has also accused Abizer Diwanji, head of due diligence, and other senior management members of abetting the harassment.
An FIR was lodged at the NM Joshi Marg police station on July 16 and the police have reportedly questioned the accused and the firm’s CEO. Among other things, Mehta has also filed a case under Section 188 of the IPC against KPMG India for not having a sexual harassment committee, as mandated by the Supreme Court in the 1997 Vishakha judgment.
KPMG, however, says that it did form a committee to investigate the charges which had an external expert on sexual harassment. But the dates given to Mehta to appear before the committee (May 20 and 21, 2007) were not acceptable to her since she was going on vacation. An alternative set of dates were then given (June 6-8), but at this time Mehta had expressed reservations about the composition.
As KPMG tells the story, even while it was considering these reservations, Mehta complained to the Maharashtra State Commission for Women. And even as KPMG was seeking MSCW’s advice, Mehta went to the media on June 19 and “sensationalised the whole issue.” Uttamsingh declined to comment on Mehta’s allegations against him.
According to Mehta’s police complaint, she joined KPMG in 2005 and was promised a partnership by 2006. On March 22, 2006, Uttamsingh allegedly called her to his room and asked her some personal questions. He also allegedly grabbed her by her shoulder and shook her, embarrassing her in front of her colleagues.
A few times, she alleges, Uttamsingh made obscene gestures and tried to intimidate her during a quality review by pointing out deficiencies in her ability to work in a team. What mattered, she was told, was “how she teamed up with him”. When she refused, Uttamsingh allegedly ensured that she lost out on her partnership by not recommending her name for it.
Complaints to human resources manager Nilofer Irani didn’t help matters, alleges Mehta. When the harassment started taking a toll on her health, she offered to “move on” in October, 2006, but was dissuaded by the CEO. On November 30, 2006, her services were terminated without any inquiry into her complaints.
She filed a complaint with the Maharashtra State Commission for Women in April, 2007, following which KPMG asked her to appear before a commitee set up to look into her complaints. She refused to go for the hearing as the committee had no jurisdiction to investigate the complaints of an ex-employee, she told DNA.
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