By Dr. G. Shreekumar Menon

When the first FIR was registered in March 2026 at Deolali police station at Nashik, Maharashtra, little did the Police realize that it was about to open a Pandora’s Box. A young Hindu woman accused her Muslim colleague Danish Shaikh of rape, claiming he had hidden the, fact that he was already married and had built a relationship with her on the false promise of marriage. Additional charges of hurting religious sentiments were included, alleging he had attempted to convert her faith. As the investigation expanded, several other women employees, mostly in the 18-25 age group, came forward. Between March 26 and April 3, nine FIRs were registered across two police stations. The charges included rape, sexual harassment, stalking, outraging modesty, and deliberate acts to outrage religious feelings.

Social media was soon flooded with similar allegations against many other corporate giants. It appears that in many corporate companies, young women were being recruited only for sexual exploitation and religious conversion. The HR department in many companies were not only recruiting young Hindu girls, but monitoring their sexual exploitation, subsequent blackmail and coercing religious conversion. In addition, names of companies have surfaced who were issuing discriminatory dress codes, restricting accessories reflecting Hindu culture.
Be that as it may, it appears that many corporate giants were blissfully unaware of the ‘Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013’, (POSH Act) an Indian law enacted to create safe work environments for women. It mandates that workplaces with 10 or more employees establish an Internal Committee (IC) for handling complaints, applies to both public and private sectors, and covers regular, contract, and domestic workers. But from the recent events, it appears that India’s Corporate Casanovas, cared two hoots for the law.
But, there are stringent safeguards imposed like reporting under Directors Report. In accordance with the request made by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, through a Notification dated July 31, 2018, amended the Companies (Accounts) Rules 2014. By this amendment, it is now mandatory to disclose that the company has implemented the provisions of the Sexual Harassment Act.
This amendment comes as a major step towards making the workplaces in the private sector safer for women, thereby casting higher responsibility on the Board of Directors to ensure compliance under the POSH Laws. Penal provisions that ensue in case of non-disclosure under Section 134 of the Companies Act will now be levied in the matters of non-disclosure of the implementation of the Sexual Harassment Act as well.

There is also a requirement of setting up an Internal Control Committee (ICC). Every employer is obliged to constitute an ICC through a written order. The ICC will be composed of the following members:

No.	Member	Eligibility
1.	Chairperson	Women employed as senior level employee; if not available then nominate one from other office/units/department/ workplace, of the same employer.
2.	2 Members (minimum)	At least two members, must be employees committed to the cause of women/having legal knowledge/experience in social work
3.	Other Member/ External Member	A person from an NGO or legal background with experience in dealing with cases of sexual harassment

The ICC is flawed in its requirement of involving employees of the same company, in the set up as members. Any employee, whether in government or a private company, is not an independent entity, and therefore has severe limitations in functioning impartially. It is not conceivable that they would expose sexual harassment cases without fear and favour.
Another factor is that, any ICC member seeking career growth cannot afford to displease the top management by exposing illicit happenings going on inside the company. Even if the ICC member were to seek better opportunities in other companies, they cannot escape the practice of Employer Reference, which confidentially gives the credentials of the member. It therefore comes as no surprise, that the ICC in most companies, private universities, and other organizations is a big farce.
The Tata Consultancy Services scam, has clearly exposed the sham of the ICC, which now needs a total revamp. The ICC needs to be made a totally independent set-up. This writer would recommend that the government should induct retired lady officers from the civil services, banking sector and even from professionals like doctors, engineers, and lawyers, to function as an independent watchdog, for a limited tenure of two years. This would give confidence to young girls to report inappropriate behaviour in the organization.
The Independent Directors functioning in many companies, need to be directed to take an investigative approach to unearth unethical behaviour happening in the organization. In the present TCS case, the government needs to proceed against the ICC members for lackadaisical discharge of duties and also against the Independent Directors, by ordering their removal for lack of devotion to duty.
The Corporate Casanovas have done irreparable damage not only to their organization, but also dented the image of the Indian private sector. If employees attempt to make their organizations into a brothel, and simultaneously engage in shady proselytization, it is time for the government to act ruthlessly, otherwise each company in India will have a mini Epstein file, to reveal.
Let us remember the sagacious words of Martin Luther King Jr. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.

About the author:

Former Director General
National Academy of Customs Indirect Taxes and Narcotics,
& Multi-Disciplinary School of Economic Intelligence India,
Fellow, James Martin Centre for Non – Proliferation Studies, USA.

Fellow, Centre for International Trade & Security, University of Georgia, USA 
AOTS Scholar, Japan

Former Trustee New Mangalore Port Trust, Karnataka

UNODC Consultant on Narcotics & Psychotropic Substances

Former Registrar, Yenepoya Deemed to be University

Former Head, CNPS, MAHE, Manipal.