Sexual harassment allegations by former JP Morgan employee

An ex-employee from the office of J.P Morgan Chase & Co. in Malad, Mumbai has alleged that she was sexually harassed by three office mates. She has also complained that the Bangur Nagar police in Malad did not register an FIR when she approached them two months back. She then went to the Borivali magistrate court, which summoned the accused last week.

The complainant had joined the investment bank in August 2016. However, after six months, three of her colleagues, whom she has named, began to harass her.

She has stated in her complaint that Richard Reuben from her team began commenting on her dressing style, and how well she had maintained herself even though she had a small baby. She alleges that he sang songs with double meanings when they were alone on the office floor and spoke about the shape of her body. He even suggested visiting her when her husband was away. During the same period, the victim says her manager also troubled her with unwanted gestures, handshakes and pats.

She claims she wrote repeated mails to the HR department only to be told that her team members were simply being friendly.

Mumbai Mirror quotes her thus—“I wrote mail after mail to people higher up in the hierarchy about my plight. Between March and April this year, I wrote 17 mails in all, which I can’t access outside the office because of strict data security measures.”

Two months back, she was sacked by the Bank for leaking data. According to a police official of Bangur Nagar police station, following the lady’s complaint two months back, they had inquired into the incident only to discover that she had been terminated and there was no proof of her harassment in terms of the mails she had sent to HR. Therefore, they had brushed aside the complaint as that of a discontented staff member trying to get even with the employer.

The lady has named the perpetrators as — Harshad Ajgaonkar, Richard Reuben and Dhananjaya Rudra.

The Bank, however, refused to comment on any individual case, and states that it has a very strict data privacy policy and that any noncompliance is dealt with as per the organisation’s rules and policies.