Teasing takes on parochial tone in IT firm

Sasken sacks accused employee.

Teasing a fellow worker on linguistic lines not only cost a techie his job but also saw brought his company's operations to a grinding halt following public outrage on Monday. The incident occurred at Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd, located on Airport Road in Bangalore.

Scores of pro-Kannada activists under the aegis of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike ransacked the company premises and resorted to slogan-shouting against the management after a Kannada television channel aired videos of the techie singing a poem penned by him. The poem, which the activists claimed was a derogatory song, was intended to ridicule Kannadigas. The accused techie has been identified only as Lee, a Canadian national.

According to police sources, Lee had written the poem to tease a woman employee, a Kannadiga, who had allegedly humiliated him following a verbal duel between the two a month ago.

Deciding to teach her a lesson, Lee allegedly mailed copies of the poem to other employees, and also allegedly made it a habit to sing it loud in the office everyday. When the woman employee took objection to it and threatened to inform pro-Kannada activists, the techie intensified his singing. He, along with a couple of his friends, started reading it whenever they saw her.

However, the crass behaviour became public when an employee videographed it with a mobile phone and passed it onto the television channel. Following this, around 25-30 vedike activists went on a rampage damaging the furniture in the office and ransacking the server room.

The company reacted swiftly stating it has terminated the services of the techie with immediate effect. In a release, the company condemned the incident and maintained it was not associated with such acts of individual misconduct.

"We are investigating the matter and will take the required action against all those found responsible," the company maintained.

"We respect Karnataka and the sentiments of its people and and in no way support any activity that is against its people. We apologise for the incident that has hurt the sentiments of the people," the company added.