Tech Mahindra Sets Example! Sacks Diversity Officer For Homophobic Comments
: Information technology Company Tech Mahindra Ltd. has sacked a senior company official in charge of Training and the Diversity portfolio accused of harassing and discriminating against him on grounds of sexual orientation
Mumbai, September 16: Information Technology Company Tech Mahindra Ltd. has sacked a senior company official in charge of Training and the Diversity portfolio who was accused of harassing and discriminating a former employee on grounds of sexual orientation and making homophobic and racial slurs. The company Sacked Richa Gautam just a week after it promised to investigate the issue.
The former employee Gaurav Pramanik tweeted on September 9 about the harassment he faced during his tenure in the company. He also alleged that his former head of the department mocked him and even called ‘effeminate’ due to this he was also bullied by his co-workers. He also highlighted Gautam’s hatred towards Muslims. Pramanik in his tweet said, “As promised, I wrote an email to my then boss at a Mahindra company I used to work with. She was a bigot, and I suffered in her hands, I hence called her out. “
According to a PTI report, recently Pramanik wrote a mail to his previous manager, citing an incident of 2015, where she had made "sweeping generalisation and stereotyping of someone's sexuality". Pramanik also tweeted the mail he wrote to Gautam. He wrote the mail after section 377 criminalising consensual sex between homosexual adults was struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this month. He also highlighted Gautam’s hatred towards Muslims. In his mail, Pramanik said that he had "promised" to write to the manager "the day IPC Section 377 was scrapped and being a homosexual in a country as great as India was legal".
Soon after Pramanik’s tweet, Tech Mahindra and Group Chairman Anand Mahindra promised of a thorough investigation. After a week of Pramanik’s tweet, Tech Mahindra tweeted last night that Gautam was sacked with immediate effect. Pramanik welcomed the company’s decision. In his tweet, he said, “I stand vindicated. Thank you to all those who've been steadfastly supporting me.”
On September 6, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which criminalised homosexuality, after months of deliberations. A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud, Rohinton Fali Nariman, A M Khanwilkar and Indu Malhotra, issued the verdict on a bunch of petitions filed to scrap the law.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 16, 2018 09:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).