The alleged sexual harassment of a woman employee in Star News and the attempt to silence her and later coverup the entire issue, has shocked journalistic circles.The fact that the victim Saima Sahar (probably she spells the name as Sayema) was constantly harassed, forced to drink, and two senior persons made sexual overtures on her, but her complaints were ignored and HR failed to take any action, illustrates how deep is the malaise and how the entire system works against the victim.
The culture of forcing women colleagues to go to late night parties and offering them drink and then taking liberties is not new in Delhi but in this case the complainant has showed exemplary courage by taking on the entire hierarchy that not just saves but also promotes this culture.
Sahar deserves to be congratulated for risking her job and approaching the National Commission for Women (NCW). Sadly, the Human Resources department of Star News channel tried its best to save the persons accused of harassment and took no action whatsoever.
If one goes by the emails written by Sahar, it appears how HR wing sat over her complaints and took no step despite her repeated complaints. As in most cases where victims are accused and their character questioned, here also the victim was defamed.
She was sacked from the post of Creative Sales Head recently. However, Sayema continued her fight against the two bosses National Sales Head, Gautam Sharma and Regional Head North India, Avinash Pandey.
One hopes that other media groups take a lesson from this controversy and ensure that such shameful inidents don't happen and there is an in-house mechanism that redresses complaints rather than shielding and supporting the perpetrators.
