Caselet 1 A Hug To a Shove:

Ms.Najma Saiyed an unmarried female aged 26 years is working with Information Technology
Dudes(ITD) a start up that has grown by leaps and bounds by its team that has grown from just 7 to
over 700 people in two short years. The Company is doing a business of over 50 crores and Mr.
Binshaw has been instrumental in increasing the number of women employees engaged by IT
Dudes. The number which was a meager 7 % has been shorn up to 28% after he had come and he
kept maintaining that the number should cross over 50% in another two years to compensate for the
weak focus on women employees.

Mr. Binshaw was an Australian and had very good contacts with some multinationals, who were
clients of the new start up ITD which was initially in Bengaluru but soon moved to the major metros
of Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Noida from where it was servicing predominantly Australian
clients.

Ms. Najma was working in Mumbai and was a new recruit and personally selected by Mr. Binshaw,
who had also felt that there must also be an ethnic and cultural balance in the Company and
recruited a few Muslims, on the basis of their competence and also their religion. This was not liked
by many of the team members and one of the managers Mr. Purushottam Thakkar stated how some
of the Muslims wanted to hold prayers in the office on Fridays. There was a mosque near by the
Company and he advised them to go to the mosque, for which they got a one hour lunch break in the
Company. This had angered many of the other staff that the policy of Mr. Binshaw was creating
practical difficulties for the Company as some of the employees were wearing their religious
identities on their sleeves. This was only a reference to the requirements of the religious groups.
Earlier, one of the Hindu religious members sought exemption from wearing slippers at the
workplace and also to come in black dress during the Mandala period (41 Days) when his black
shirt, dhoti and naked feet was disallowed. Now this concession to Muslims has provoked a
backlash in the organisation and Mr. Binshaw was saying that some minor concessions so that work
would not suffer, is permissible. But clients coming to the Company and seeing employees in black
and without shoes would be violative of the office etiquette. He also stated that the Muslims were
going out during the lunch hour and that was a small concession and he was not averse to minor
concessions as long as the business needs were not affected.

Ms. Najma had her birthday and it was celebrated in the office. She was not used to celebrations in
the Company of males and in the office meeting in the evening, there was dancing and merry
making for a half hour break the Company had permitted. Najma cut the birthday cake and the first
bite was cut by Mr. Binshaw and he insisted on feeding it to her and fed her the cake and also
smeared the cake on her face in jest. Ms. Najma was taken aback at this and she was recovering
from the shock of a male touching her, Mr.Binshaw pointed to his cheeks with his finger, asking her
to give him a kiss with the cream on her face and lips. Ms. Najma did not like the gesture and she

1
moved away. Mr. Stanley, who entered at that point informed that Najma’s team had successfully
concluded the deal for the Company with the client and it was a big business. Mr. Binshaw saw that
Najma was huddled with her other girl friends, and he went there near her and told her. Hey Najma,
did you hear what Stanley said? You have nailed the order and deserve a hug and proceeded to give
her a hug. Actually you deserve a kiss to, but you are very shy. All the girls started yelling to
Binshaw to give her a kiss, but Mr. Binshaw said that she is feeling uncomfortable. Do not bug her
and proceeded to give her another hug. He said that he was proud of her.

Najma could not take all this and she moved out of the place and she went running to the Locker
Room. Farishta, another employee ran after her and asked her to come and celebrate her Birthday
and it took her quite a time for her to persuade her to come back. As she was crying, her face was
puffed up and she did not want to come back to work in that condition. She took 20 minutes to
compose herself again and then she came back and joined the party that was in full blast.

In the evening, she returned home and her brother Mr. Ahmed was shocked to see the Whatsapp
video of the dance that was taking place in the premises and also a shot of Mr. Binshaw hugging
Najma. He slapped Najma and the next day, Mr. Ahmed had filed a complaint of sexual harassment
against Mr. Binshaw and also Farishta for her unislamic type behaviour and writing to the Company
to take action against both.

Mr. Sengupta, the Head of HR was flabbergasted and when Ms. Najma reported for duties, he called
her to the Cabin and she stated that she had to do this as her family was very conservative and Ms.
Farishta by mistake had sent the video of the company party to her brother as she had saved his
name also under her name as she was his family member who had to be frequently informed of any
late coming or any change in her schedule.

She also informed Mr. Sengupta that her brother would be attending the ICC proceedings as he
would provide her with support to deal with the harassment she was facing in the office particularly
from the Australian foreigners.

How would you respond to these developments and what would you advise Mr. Binshaw, who
was to leave for Australia for three months and was keen to know whether he would be able
to go or his programme would get stalled because of the complaint filed by Mr. Ahmed,
Najma’s brother. After this incident, Ms. Najma refused to speak to Mr. Binshaw who tried
contacting her. As an ICC member outline whether this case falls under sexual harassment
and you will permit Mr. Ahmed to prosecute the matter on behalf of his sister. He has asked
that she be paid 90 days paid leave till the enquiry is completed. What will you do?

2
 Caselet 2: Fallen from Grace
Compiled by Dr. R. Krishna Murthy©

Mr. Mehrnosh, 31, General Manager – Brilliant Information Technology Ltd. was having a party with his staff
members to commemorate the award, which his Division had won in the company. The event was a way of
thanking the staff for the support they had given.

15 Staff members of the department were at the party and there were 9 ladies present. Of the Nine Ladies, five
of them were below the age group of 30 and the remaining four were in their 40’s. They were responsible also
for the turnaround of the Division’s prosperity.

Ms. Ruchira was the most beautiful of the ladies and she had Zenobia, working under her. Zenobia resented
Ruchira monopolising the attention of Mehrnosh as she felt that as a Parsi, she was the one who knew
Mehrnosh better. Mehrnosh, of course was charmed by Ruchira and yielded to her attractive charms and grace.
But he made it sure that none of the senior ladies were feeling isolated or ignored in the party.

The party was going strong with the music and the drinks. Alcoholic drinks were also doing the rounds and Mr.
Mehrnosh was trying to interest the ladies in some excellent Champaign that he had got from some of the finest
wineries in France for the occasion. He was able to convert and persuade two of the ladies to try a sip of
Champaign and after which they needed no persuasion at all. In fact, they were trying to make the others,
including a few male teetotallers sample the new offering. The party was going on well and the music added to
the blast.

Then just before dinner was to be served, Mr. Mehrnosh proposed a toast to all the staff for the excellent work
they had done and the party was to celebrate that. He named each one of the staff member, they came to the
limelight. They were applauded and thereafter they went back to their place. Zenobia was very angry that
Mehrnosh had fulsome praise for Ms. Ruchira, and much of the work which Zenobia had done, the spotlight was
stolen by Ruchira. She did not mention one word of thanks to Zenobia and instead praised Mehrnosh’s
leadership, which Zenobia felt was nothing but classical buttering the boss. When Zenobia’s turn came and
Mehrnosh acknowledged, she felt slighted that a fellow Parsi had not appreciated the only other Parsi in the
team for her contribution to the team. She felt that she and Mehrnosh, were natural affiliates and what should
have been as cementing relationships, appeared to be one in which Mehrnosh was keeping a shoulder’s length
distance, because he was afraid that it would not make her Boss, Ruchira very happy.

After the acknowledgement of performance, the next item on the agenda of the get together was dance and
music. Ruchira immediately started dancing and started pulling the male folk, reluctant to shake a leg also on to
the floor for dancing. A few of them became involved and moved to the latest music from some top Hindi songs
that were popular.

Ruchira also pulled in some of the older ladies, who were reluctant and just watching the younger generation
having a good time. The songs and dancing was going on and there was serving of alcoholic drinks and Mr. Patil,
who was generally a very reserved and shy person in the company, was exhibiting a behaviour that was not seen

3
at work. He not only started singing, he was matching the swinging and sizzling steps some of the ladies in the
group were doing, much to the delight and joy of all the male members present as well as some of the ladies.
One lady however was not enjoying this. And that was Zenobia. She was keeping to herself and only once joined
the dancing floor when Mehrnosh forcibly pulled her and she danced to one song and went and stood aside all
alone.

Mr. Patil was observing this and when the next song came over, pulled her again to the dancing floor. Zenobia
did not like this one bit, but all the others started clapping and Mr.Patil was revelling in the attention he was
getting. Mr. Patil was clapping and singing too and he was having a very melodious voice and he called out to
Zenobia and said “Arre Sundari, Arre Memsahiba, Sharmaoo Nahi( Oh Beautiful, oh Madam do not Shy-
meaning) and pulled her into the centre of the dancing floor. Everybody was clapping and the dancing
commenced and Mr. Patil was dancing around swirling with movements round and round and when he was
egged on by all, his gyrating bottom brushed and pushed Zenobia, who almost tripped. Mr. Patil was egged on
by others and some of the ladies were also doing wolf whistles, and Mr.Patil repeated this. Zenobia almost fell
down but Patil caught her up and continued the dance to the amazement of all. All this when the music was on
and when the music stopped, everybody congratulated Patil and Zenobia for the dance. However, Zenobia was
completely shell-shocked. She was completely flabbergasted and bewildered. She took a chair and Mr. Patil
came up to him and asked her, “Zenobia Ma’am, I enjoyed the dance and want to thank you for the dance.
Saying this, he planted a small kiss on the hands that he held.

By now Zenobia had gained control of herself and she resented this type of behaviour of Patil who was taking
liberties with her without as much as her leave. She slapped him hard and that slap brought the entire party to a
halt. The resounding slap also led to Mr. Patil reeling and falling down with a thud and his spectacles completely
broke. He got up and while getting up again caught hold of Zenobia’s hands to get up. He apologised again and
said that he did not know that she was angry with him. However, Zenobia felt that Mr. Patil had deliberately
again caught her hands and she pushed him back. But Patil had held her hands tightly and she just fell over him
and she felt that Patil had done this deliberately.

Soon everybody helped them up and many of the ladies, who were Maharashtrian, helped Mr. Patil back to his
feet and Mr. Patil without his spectacles was completely lost. The sudden change in the party atmosphere was
also felt immediately and Ms.Ruchira took control of the situation and also chastised Zenobia for overreacting.
This led to Zenobia losing control and she started sobbing and also abusing Ruchira and saying that all this was
being done at her behest. Mehrnosh tried to calm her and take her to another room, but she was sobbing
uncontrollably on his shoulders and continued to abuse Patil and Ruchira.

Mehrnosh helped to calm her and some order was also restored in the party that recommenced in the other
room. Patil had also recomposed himself and again the music came out loudly. The party went on till the wee
hours of the night but Zenobia had no mood to continue to party. She left early and Mehrnosh had arranged a
vehicle to drop her home after a quick bite and dessert that he arranged in the same room.

The next day morning, Zenobia had filed a written complaint of sexual harassment against Mr. Patil for
molesting her and for brushing against her buttocks in the party and deliberately grappled with her. Mr.
Mehrnosh was shocked that even Ms. Ruchira was also named in the complaint as not taking immediate action

4
against a male employee working on the same floor and instead chastising her for “making a mountain out of a
mole hill”. Patil denied the allegations and said that she had already slapped him and broke his glasses. He
denied any allegations of sexual harassment and felt that it was cooked up just in vendetta. He further alleged
that it was she who had misbehaved with him by slapping him and insulting him in front of his other friends and
lady colleagues and he had done nothing that had insulted her dignity.

As a committee which will be handling the above complaint discuss, how you will proceed with the complaint
of sexual harassment and outline the detailed procedure you will follow to give justice to Ms. Zenobia?