TVF sexual harassment: Cops slapped with complaint for failure to file FIR

Arunabh Kumar, Rizwan Siddiqui

TVF chief Arunabh Kumar

A week after the police failed to act on his application for a molestation FIR against TVF founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar, noted criminal lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui has now filed a complaint against senior inspector of MIDC police station and the DCP of the division at Andheri Magistrate court.

"Cops have miserably failed and neglected to take the required immediate action against Mr Arunabh Kumar. The complainant has therefore approached this honourable court seeking punishment of the accused," Siddiqui wrote.

mid-day has been following the developments in the case ever since Arunabh became the centre of a controversy after an anonymous blogger (under the pseudonym Indian Fowler) made allegations that she had faced repeated sexual harassment at the workplace from him over a span of two years. The blogpost opened a Pandora's box, and more allegations began pouring in, some anonymously.

Advocate Rizwan Siddiqui

This paper also reported that Siddiqui then filed a third-party application for an FIR, but found the police dragging their feet on registering the case. He had pointed out earlier that cases falling under Section 354 (molestation), FIR should be lodged immediately, but the senior inspector had not done so.

Siddiqui, in his complaint, stated, "According to an anonymous blogpost that went viral on the Internet on March 12, 2017, Kumar has been 'continuously' indulging in criminal and illegal acts of sexually harassing his female employees at the workplace, outraging the modesty of women and molesting women."

"The blogpost went viral through the medium of the Internet on various social media sites, and a number of women have come forward and voiced their grievances against the accused, of being sexually harassed and exploited by him," Siddiqui further wrote.

The Magistrate Court will hear arguments on the matter on April 11.