Sexual abuse: ScoopWhoop CEO counters allegations of neglect in staff email

CEO Sattvik Mishra says the complainant had never raised any issue before her resignation

With ScoopWhoop in the media glare over recent allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against one of its co-founders, Suparn Pandey, CEO Sattvik Mishra wrote an email to the media organisation's employees on the issue, in which he countered the complainant's allegations that the senior leadership at the company had harassed her when she complained about her alleged mistreatment.

The internal email, accessed by Business Standard, comes after Pandey, a ScoopWhoop co-founder, was accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault across a period of two years by a former senior executive at the media organisation. The complainant, in her FIR, has also alleged that the other co-founders, Mishra and Sriparna Tikekar, had abetted the harassment.

In the mail, Mishra categorically states that the complainant never brought up the matter, of Pandey and a hostile work environment, before till the night of February 18, 2017, in her complaint; few weeks after putting in her resignation. According to Mishra, the February mail accused him and Tikekar of “negligence” and “abetting to this harassment” by not providing her relief against the main accused. 

Arguments over performance. 

In his mail, Mishra begins by detailing the events surrounding a January 31, 2017, editor's meeting. According to Mishra, the complainant was not performing well professionally over the past 3 months. His mail says: "The publication she was responsible for wasn’t growing fast enough. In-fact her’s was the only division within ScoopWhoop Media that has been performing below average...."  The mail adds: "It was also alarming to note that a lot of people under her were resigning one after the other. In the last 3 months, almost 5 people had resigned...." 

During the January meeting, according to Mishra, he told the complainant that she and her team needed to up its game as it was the "least performing division of the company". Mishra added that his feedback was not received positively and the complainant became "defensive and an argument ensued". "She continuously put the blame on everything else, from ScoopWhoop’s technology team to the general lack of innovation within the company," Mishra's mail says. 

Mishra's mail goes on to state that he had been doing his job as the CEO during the meeting, and, therefore, perhaps he might have raised his voice. However, he was "hauling up employees" and "scolding everyone" as his job entailed that "holding performance meetings from time to time".

The resignation letter

According to Mishra, he received the complainant's resignation letter within hours of the January 31 meeting's end. 

Mishra's mail says: "The letter appreciates the work culture at ScoopWhoop and the co-founders, contradicting her accusation of systematically creating a hostile environment in the organisation, forcing her to resign. Below is the screenshot of that email. What’s important to note here is the tone of the email." This appears to contradict the complainant's description of the organisation and its senior staff. 

 

 

As reported earlier, in her FIR, the complainant has also alleged that the other co-founders, Mishra and Tikekar, had abetted the harassment.Equally shocking was the allegation, according to her FIR, that ScoopWhoop's organisational was one where the other co-founders actively covered up Pandey's alleged misdeeds.

Furthermore, according to the complainant, the other co-founders turned against her even as she kept complaining to them about Pandey's alleged sexual advances. In fact, she has alleged that she was forced to work closely with Pandey despite her complaints against him and that she was "reprimanded and humiliated" when she refused to work with Pandey.  More shocking accusations follow, even as she was being forced to work with Pandey, the other co-founders first dissuaded her from lodging a formal complaint, but they did not stop there. Eventually, she alleged that they tried to intimidate her by threatening her career and reputation. It is at this point, according to her complaint, that she decided to leave ScoopWhoop. 

Between June 2016 and January 31, 2017

Mishra's mail then moves on to counter the complainant's allegation that a hostile work environment had been created for her at the organisation by the co-founders. Till this point in his mail, however, Mishra does not address any of the allegations against Pandey specifically. 

Mishra goes on to share some email exchanges between Tikekar and the complainant during that time period, which, Mishra says, should counter any allegations of misbehaviour or hostility on his or Tikekar's part. 

As reported earlier, according to the complainant, the final straw for her came on June 7, 2016, on which date, Pandey's advances made her finally realise that she needed to quit. Mishra's mail carries a screengrab of the complainant's mail to Tikekar on that date.

Mishra's mail also promises that if any merit is found in her allegations against anybody in the company, strictest action on their part would be taken. "The complainant was a key member of the senior management, an early hire and we would have done everything to ensure that there was a free and fair enquiry into the matter."