Infosys women employees accuse senior executive of sexual harassment

Accuse board of directors of 'hushing up' the matter; external investigators say it's case of 'gender insenstivity'

A group of women employees at Infosys, India's second largest information technology (IT) services company, has brought charges of sexual harassment against a senior executive of the company. In a mail sent from an unidentified email ID, they said the board of directors was "hushing up the whole case", though the charges are serious.

Commenting on the charges, an Infosys spokesperson said: "We take every sexual harassment complaint very seriously and each case is thoroughly and expeditiously investigated. Swift and appropriate actions are taken in all such cases. Keeping in view the privacy aspects we do not share particulars of individual cases." The spokesperson said the company prided itself on the diversity of its workforce and an equal opportunity work environment for its employees.

It is reliably learnt that the company constituted a team of external investigators, who after due investigation came to the conclusion that it was a matter of 'gender insensitivity'. "Appropriate action has been taken against the said individual," a source added.

In 2002, Infosys had dismissed Phaneesh Murthy, who was then heading global sales for the company, on charges of sexual harassment. Murthy, who later become the chief executive officer of mid-sized IT services player IGate was sacked from the job due to a relationship with a subordinate employee and on sexual harassment charges.

"We are a group of women employees working in the secretarial and compliance team at Infosys. We had filed a sexual harassment complaint against (name withheld). Even though, the charges were serious, the board had not taken action and is hushing up the whole case," the mail sent to this newspaper, said. "We request you to take up this issue and get us justice," the mail undersigned as 'Infy women employees' added. The email was sent from an email ID 'infywomen@outlook.com.'

Since the charges are not proven, Business Standard will not disclose the identity of the senior executive against whom the charges have been levelled. The executive also could not be contacted for his comments.