Sexual harassment case: Only victims' complaints can help nail TVF boss

Rizwan SiddiqueeRizwan Siddiquee should brace for an impasse The noted criminal lawyer took the first step towards initiating criminal proceedings against digital entertainment agency The Viral Fever TVF founder Arunabh Kumar by filing a complaint against him with the Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra Commission for Women three days ago But with no alleged victim of Kumars misdemeanours having come forward yet the case could die a slow death warn expertsExactly a week ago an anonymous blogpost kicked up a storm in the entertainment startup bubble and started a dialogue on sexual harassment of women in the workplace The poster mdash under the pseudonym Indian Fowler in a reference to techie Susan Fowler who exposed the culture of sexual harassment and discrimination at ride hailing app firm Uber mdash made allegations of facing repeated sexual harassment at the workplace from Kumar over two years That blog opened a Pandoras box Many other women made similar allegations against Kumar some anonymously As of March 15 there were over 50 complaints But no one came forward despite a plea by the Mumbai Police to register a complaintVictims statement mustIt was then that Siddiquee rose to the task The law allows a third party to file a criminal complaint barring charges in which the aggrieved victimss presence is mandatory sections 195199 of Criminal Procedure Code A third party can file a complaint with respect to section 354 assault or criminal force on woman with the intent to outrage her modesty of the IPC The law does not prevent me from filing an FIR I had filed an FIR against selfstyled film critic Kamal R Khan as a third party in a similar manner Siddiquee told middayAt last count there were over 50 complaints of sexual harassment against TVF founder Arunabh KumarCriminal lawyer Rizwan Merchant however pointed out that such sexual harassment complaints only allow the police to investigate but not make any arrest When a complaint is filed the police can summon the victim and record her statement The statement can help figure out mala fide intention if any If the victim doesnt turn up the police either tag the complaint as accurate but undetected or categorise it as a false case Either way the case is closed said advocates Mihir Desai and Pranav BadhekaA case in 2013 is a prime example of such a dismal scenario A photojournalist had captured the molestation of a girl by a crowd during Ganesh visarjan then and a complaint was even filed on the basis of the photograph but the case had to be shut because the victim didnt come forward Siddiquee said he is trying to convince two alleged victims of Kumar to approach the police He also issued a showcause notice last evening to Shailesh Pasalwad senior inspector of MIDC police station Andheri East for failing to take cognisance of his complaint despite being dutybound to immediately file an FIR in all matters under section 354 of the IPCThe MIDC police who have summoned Siddiquee to record his statement said they are still looking into the merit of the complaint We are seeking a legal opinion on whether an FIR can be registered on a third partys complaint said PasalwadGrowing numbersRegardless of how Siddiquees complaint is taken the growing number of allegations against Kumar cannot be brushed aside In just two days of the blogpost going viral six other women had claimed that he had molested them too As of March 15 Corporatekumar_ an anonymous Twitter handle that was the first to share the post is said to have received 50 more private messages The Twitter account user said information of these 50 allegations will be shared publicly only after verificationWhen midday reached out yesterday the handler said three to four complaints appeared to be genuine harassment cases while the others referred to Kumars flirtatious advances The user refused to hand over to the police redacted chats from the women adding that the women had been asked to reach out to Siddiquee The user was diffident to share more information saying one of the women whose information he had given to a mediaperson was harangued by TVFInputs from Vinay Dalvi50Number of women who spoke out against Kumar as of March 1570Percentage of women who did not report sexual harassment by superiors as per a 201617 survey