No High Court relief in sexual harassment case

Think twice before sharing ‘obscene’ photographs with your office colleagues. The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to grant any relief to Avinash Vijayshankar, a former KPMG employee, who had sought quashing of an FIR filed against him by a female colleague for allegedly showing her semi-nude photographs of female strippers. 

Vijashankar, 29, a chartered accountant who quit KPMG in June 2007 to pursue an MBA degree in Duke University, USA, is one of the eight accused in the sexual harassment complaint filed by Malvika Mehta (name changed), a former director with KPMG. Mehta had accused Vikram Uttamsingh, head of financial advisory services and senior partner of KPMG India, of outraging her modesty, and seven others of abetting the harassment.

Mehta’s allegation against Vijayshankar was that in October 2005 he showed her ‘obscene’ photographs and told her that he could arrange phone numbers of male strippers and even get her a discount. Vijayshankar’s petition stated that the alleged incident occurred in October 2005 whereas the police complaint was filed in July 2007 thus making the offence time-barred. He said the criminal case would “totally ruin his career” and would attach a stigma irrespective of the outcome.

Assistant public prosecutor AR Patil informed the court that a chargesheet had been filed in the case on December 15, 2007. Patil said that Vijayshankar was listed as a wanted accused as he had failed to present himself before the police for recording his statement.

When Justices SB Mhase and VK Tahilramani indicated that they were not likely to grant any relief, Vijayshankar’s lawyer withdrew the petition. A similar petition filed by four other accused in the case is also pending in court.