Star India Responds to #MeToo Allegation Against CEO Uday Shankar, Calls it 'Malicious'
The accuser, who tweeted through handle @ApurvaS17 -- saying she would remain anonymous -- had made sexual harassment allegations against the company's top official in an open letter.
Mumbai, October 22: Star India has responded to the sexual harassment allegations levelled against its CEO Uday Shankar. The leading media company said it has conducted a suo moto probe into the allegations levelled against the top executive, and "found them malicious".
A spokesperson of the Internal Complaints Committee, while speaking to news agency IANS, said the complainant was reached out on multiple occasions by the company, seeking her assistance to conduct a thorough investigation into the case. However, she did not revert. #MenToo Movement For Men Challenges #MeToo Movement to 'Expose' Harassment by Women.
The accuser, who tweeted through handle @ApurvaS17 -- saying she would remain anonymous -- had made sexual harassment allegations against the company's top official in an open letter.
Star India issued a statement claiming that the allegations levelled against their CEO lack credibility. The anonymous complaint is a "malicious attempt to malign and defame the reputation of the company and the CEO", Star said, further adding that it reserved the right to initiate appropriate legal proceedings in this regard.
The accuser in her tweets had said that the #MeToo movement had encouraged her to come forward and that she had quit her job at Star India in the Airtime Sales section after 26 months and nine days and was now a homemaker, "taking care of my baby and hubby in a beautiful country, far away from Mumbai."
The accuser said that while she was at the company, there were "clear instructions" given to make the sales team fulfil the targets in case they want to continue with their employment contract, "for which even if you have to take the clients to a hotel room and sleep with them for days."
She said there were many instances when she and three of her female colleagues (interns) had clear instructions to reach a hotel after office hours for a private party hosted for influential friends.
She says the influential friends were "mostly bureaucrats and sometimes politicians and foreign nationals" who were "all ready to violate you, force you to dance against your wishes, drink with them, make drink(s) for them, exchange your numbers and even quietly accompany them to their respective rooms if they want you to".
(With agency inputs)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 22, 2018 08:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).