In a significant development, the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate SV Lad in Nashik on Friday ordered the custodial remand of four Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) employees until April 29. The employees are facing charges of sexual harassment and religious coercion based on a complaint filed by a male colleague at the company.
Background of the Case
This case is among nine instances of sexual offenses and religious coercion currently under investigation by a special investigation team (SIT) of the Nashik police. On Thursday, the SIT took custody of the four accused individuals from the Nashik Road Central Prison, where they were being held in judicial custody in a separate case.
Court Proceedings
The SIT team presented the accused before ACJM Lad and filed an application through public prosecutor Kiran Bendbhar, seeking a 10-day police custody remand. However, the court opted to remand them in police custody until April 29.
Bendbhar stated, "The 35-year-old complainant has accused the four employees of persistently targeting him at the workplace and hurting his religious sentiments."
Complainant's Allegations
According to the complainant, the accused forced him to read their holy book, wear religious headgear, and consume non-vegetarian food. They also allegedly made disparaging remarks about his faith and passed lewd comments about female coworkers, including sexually colored remarks about his wife.
Police cited the complaint, noting that the accused took the complainant to various locations, including hotels, in two separate cars. There, he was fed 'shir kurma,' after which he felt dizzy. The accused allegedly filmed a video of the complainant wearing the headgear and posted it on a social media group.
Police Investigation Needs
The prosecutor argued that the police required an in-depth investigation, including taking the accused to the places they visited with the complainant, recovering the two cars used in the alleged crime, seizing one accused's cellphone, and conducting panchanama of the visited locations.
Defense Arguments
Advocates Baba Sayyad and Rahul Kasliwal, representing the accused, countered that the police were unnecessarily seeking custodial remand on pretexts such as cracking mobile phone codes, recovering vehicles, and other reasons. Kasliwal remarked, "The cracking of mobile phone codes is an old reason the police have been putting forth, and the cars can also be taken up by the police anytime for which remand is not required."
The court, however, found merit in the police's request and granted custody until April 29 to facilitate the investigation.
