TCS management’s role commendable; activities carried out by a module at Nashik office, says Devendra Fadnavis

MUMBAI: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday expressed serious concern over the alleged sexual harassment of employees at a unit of Tata Consultancy Services in Nashik.Fadnavis said the matter was grave, alleging that the acts appeared to have been carried out in a planned manner by a module. However, the chief minister praised the company’s handling of the issue, saying the TCS management’s role had been commendable as it made clear that the company would not shield the accused and reiterated its “zero tolerance” policy in such cases.He added that the government would investigate how far the links of the alleged module extended and had also approached central agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to look into the matter.A local court on Thursday remanded two accused in a case related to alleged sexual harassment and forcible religious conversion at a unit of Tata Consultancy Services here in police custody till April 18.The judge remanded them in two-day police custody.They are booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 74 (outraging woman's modesty),75 (sexual harassment) and 79 (word, gesture, act, or object used with the intention to insult the modesty of a woman).Seven employees, six men working at the Nashik unit of TCS and a woman HR manager, have been arrested in nine cases registered so far.The police formed a special investigation team (SIT) earlier this week to probe complaints lodged by eight women employees who claimed that senior colleagues mentally and sexually harassed them and the human resources department ignored the complaints. Some of the complainants also alleged that the accused tried to covert them forcibly, and hurt their religious sentiments.TCS on Sunday said that it has adopted a zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion of any form for a long time, and the employees allegedly involved in sexual harassment at the Nashik office have been suspended.A day later, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said that the complaints and allegations emerging from the Nashik office of TCS were "gravely concerning and anguishing", and a thorough investigation was underway under Chief Operating Officer Arathi Subramanian to establish the facts and identify individuals responsible for the situation.Also Read: ‘Not a major scandal’: Uncle of accused in TCS Nashik case says ‘scripted conspiracy by Bajrang Dal’