8 MOFSL execs booked for alleged harassment of woman colleague, company denies charges

Mumbai police book 8 MOFSL execs for alleged harassment of female colleague

Mumbai, May 26 (SocialNews.XYZ) Mumbai Police have lodged a first information report against 8 senior executives of a major financial company, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd (MOFSL) for allegedly outraging the modesty of a 37-year-old female employee who was under suspension for reportedly making the male colleagues 'sexually uncomfortable'.

The Dadar Police Station has filed the FIR under Indian Penal Code Sec 509 against the company's top executives ranging from Senior Manager to Board Member and Senior Group Vice-President - Sudhir Dhar, Gaurav Maniar, Rohit Singh, Ankit Jobanputra, Vijay Agarwal, Rohan Adawale, Prince Sharma and Suraj Pawar.

The MOFSL has dismissed the allegations by the woman and said it would move an appropriate court to quash the FIR even as Dadar Police is investigating the matter in which no arrests have been made so far.

The woman, working as Digital Marketing Assistant Vice President was placed under suspension on May 6 for two weeks on alleged grounds of making her male colleagues 'sexually uncomfortable', and after she approached the police, the suspension was extended.

One of the senior persons named in the FIR, Maniar, had allegedly made certain explicit remarks on her clothes and dressing styles which made other males in the office 'sexually uncomfortable', he demanded to know which Gujarati caste she belonged to, and asked her to resign or the company would sack her.

The woman said that the company is conducting an internal probe for which she was not called or contacted, but the company countered by saying she did not attend a meeting of the independent committee and her responses are awaited.

When contacted by IANS, a MOFLS official spokesperson "flatly denied" all the baseless allegations by the woman who had worked with the company for barely a month.

The MOFSL is also filing a quashing application before a competent court, added the spokesperson.

Slamming the woman complainant, the MOFSL said: "Her behaviour at our organisation has been toxic and was making co-workers very unfortable... She had not complained or brought these allegations to the notice of the organisation before her suspension. These are her afterthoughts. She is trying to harass the people who had complained against her and also trying to damage the reputation of our organisation."

The MOFLS said the company has nearly 10,000 employees with many women, has a stringent policy with a very strict code of conduct for all employees and a committee with an independent member for all such complaints.

A listed entity, MOFSL has been a financial services major for over 35 years, offering a wide range of financial and investment-related services, with its headquarters at Prabhadevi in south central Mumbai.

Source: IANS