TCS ‘techie’ fired over misconduct, alleges sex abuse

An employee claiming to be with TCS has filed a complaint of sexual harassment days after she was sacked over alleged misconduct at a hotel. She has named the IT major’s human resource executives, the hotel staff and about 150 others.

The Upparpet police have registered an FIR under IPC sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 354D (stalking) following a complaint by Tanya (name changed), who says she was sacked as a senior consultant on February 15.

The company, however, stated that she was never its employee.

It all happened over lunch on February 14.

Tanya had gone to Sanctum Hotel, Gandhinagar, central Bengaluru, for lunch. The restaurant is located on the seventh floor of the hotel building which is close to the TCS Gandhinagar campus.

Tanya said she was exhausted after a business call and wanted to eat. At the restaurant, she found about 150 formally dressed men (wearing ties) having a buffet. They stared at her as if she had come to their buffet party.

“There were some women too, but they belonged to the same group and kept staring at me and talking among themselves,” Tanya told DH.

Tanya said she finished starters and went to have the main course but it was over. She was told the main course will be served at her table. The food was served after over 10 minutes but it “smelt stale”.

She had a heated argument with the hotel staff about the bad food and the patrons “staring at her”.

The woman later left the restaurant and came to the lift to go downstairs. A housekeeper standing behind suddenly started crooning. She slapped and scolded him. When she went to the reception to pay the bill, she was told there was no need for it. She just walked to the office.

In the evening, the hotel management, armed with the CCTV footage of Tanya manhandling two of their staffers, complained to the TCS human resource department. The next day, TCS took back her ID and sacked her.

Tanya said she had no option but to file a criminal complaint. According to her, she joined TCS in October 2018 as a senior consultant with a salary of Rs 10 lakh per annum. Previously, she worked at Cognizant for over six years.

A spokesperson for TCS said the woman was assigned to the company through one of the contractors.

“Any query concerning can be best addressed by her employer,” the spokesperson added.

Police are reviewing the CCTV footage to ascertain the facts.