Mumbai manager arrested for sexual harassment

Workplace harassment by Mumbai hotel manager. (Indian Express)

The Mumbai Police have arrested a 36-year-old executive manager of a housekeeping company for allegedly sexually harassing a female staffer of the company. The police said the accused has been harassing her at the workplace since last two years and as he had threatened her of dire consequences, the scared victim had not approached the police. The police said a case was registered on May 30 and following a probe, the executive manager was arrested last week.

The complainant, in her statement to police, said, “I have been working as a trainer at the company since March 2016. My working hours are from 9 am to 6 pm. Initially, after I joined, he wouldn’t come to work but later when he started showing up more often to the workplace, he would pass lewd comments at me, which I ignored.” The police said that the victim had to go through the harassment for over an year, following which since March 2017, the alleged accused had started staring at her constantly.

“He would keep staring at me for a long time and make me uncomfortable. Later, whenever we crossed our paths in office, he would push me on purpose and pretend as if it happened by mistake,” said the complainant in her statement to police.

One day, the accused walked up to the complainant and said “call me in the training room, when you are alone” said the police. Since then, he even started following the 34-year-old after working hours and would try to hold a conversation with her, according to the complainant. “On March 8, there was a meeting during which I went to the washroom and suddenly someone banged the door from outside and left. After I inquired, my colleagues told me that the same executive manager had done and left,” said the complainant.

Later in the same month, the complainant said that the accused crossed all limits after he walked up to her and touched her inappropriately.

“He just touched me inappropriately and left. I yelled at him following which he threatened me of dire consequences, if I tell anyone about the incident. He even threatened to defame me in public. On April 8, I even came to Sion police station to register a case but as I was scared, I returned,” said the complainant to police. After consulting her husband, the 34-year-old approached Sion police on May 30.

Senior police inspector Mrudula Lad from Sion police station confirmed the arrest and said, “The accused was arrested and is now out on bail. We have verified the facts and we are investigating the case further.”