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#MeToo in India Inc: Former Taj Hotels staffer speaks out, names then CEO

created Nov 1st 2018, 07:15 by VedPrakash59


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A former executive assistant with Taj Hotels, whose resignation letter alleging sexual harassment by Rakesh Sarna, then its CEO  and MD, anonymously appeared in the media during the Tata-Mistry tussle in 2016 has now decided to speak on the record.  
Saying that she was inspired by the #MeToo tide, Anjuli Pandit told The Indian Express that she knocked on several doors at  Tata  sons but few heard her out. Instead, she was  "left with no choice but to quit." After  she complained, Tata Sons set up a new committee where she deposed but two year join, she said, she is yet to get the report of its findings.  
The Indian Express has accessed official documents, emails, and other communications related to Pandit's complaint and related to Pandit's complaint and  spoken with people who sere aware of her experiences. Pandit, a US  citizen and an overseas Citizen of India card  holder, who works with a financial advisory firm in London, joined the Tata Group in 2009 when she w as 23.
After a break of her master's degree at Science Po, Paris she was back in the Tata Sons in then  Chairman  Cyrus Mistry's Office in January 2014, managing government relations with Europe, Middle East, and North  Africa. Pandit said that a year into her "dream job," Sarna asked if she could be moved to Taj Hotels as his Executive Assistant.
"In December we had an uncomfortable phone call to discuss my salary and when I wan't happy with his offer, Sarna said I think you are beautiful enough to pay you a  crore but I don't have that kind of money honey'. That was the first indication I had that something was not right," Pandit said.
In January 2015, she moved to Taj  as Sarna's executive assistant. In a piece she sent to The Indian express, she  wrote: "Over the seven months, he remarked on my looks, his attraction tome and his desire to have an affair. His advances were very verbal,and I  was always  clear, I was not interested at all. Whether I deflected, professionally requested, or burst into tear in frustration, he persisted. The environment  became intolerable as we both lost our patience."  
She  said she  couldn't lodge an official complaint with the  POSH committee at Taj as it included  Sarna and had his           
 subordinates as members.  
Pandit said that  even after approaching Taj Board members, Tata Group Executive Council members, and the office of the Chairperson, the only solution they offered to her was her  resignation from Taj Group and a demotion to "a mediocre at best position."
"Since I didn't feel comfortable with the internal Taj processes, I decided to seek support from the board and largest shareholder, Tata Sons. What I didn't realize, it that by not following the formal route, I was providing the Tata Group an opportunity to side step best practices," she said adding that despite approaching everyone possible up to the rank of the Chairperson, she was, in the end, asked to resign from Taj Hotels and demoted to a back-office  job with the                               corporate communications team at Tata  sons.
In November 2015, Pandit put in her papers citing the hostile environment at work due to Sarna's "repeated unwanted  sexual  advances" and her desire to  "move out of Tata sons and into  an organisation which values and  respects women's rights."
Months after she left, Pandit said, in July 2016 the law firm  AZB  & Partners, on behalf of Tata Sons, tried to persuade her to  quit the Tata Group was based purely in personal reasons". The letter, which she refused to sign, also states that she prohibits  the media from writing any "speculative  stories  about my sting with the Tata Group" threatening to take legal action if they do.  
Pandit's former colleague from a previous organisation and  a friend of 10 years, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The  Indian  Express that sexual harassment  "dominated every conversation we had."
In November 2016, a year after he resignation the contents of her  resignation logger appeared in the media without naming her "It w as during the  Cyrus Mistry Ratan  Tata  face off and Sarna was known to be close to Misty I was horrified that the letter was leaked and I was a mere pawn in this power struggle despite me keeping quiet about it all along and not making any trouble as advised,"she said.
After Pandit declined to sign the legal  firm's letter and wrote to him about their  inadequate  mechanisms to prevent sexual harassment, Tata sons  set up a new committee to look into her matter.  The minutes of her deposition before the  committee in the Tata capital office in Mumbai   in  August 2016, available with The Indian Express, show that she detailed Sarna's "inappropriate behavior" and remarks on her appearance, her clothes, and his persistent propositions.  
She alleged that if he was upset over her rebuff, she wasn't marked on emails, invited to meetings. He told her,  "we  should have an affair, I have never been  attracted to an Indian  woman before. One day you will be my third wife and live with  me in Miami...  She mentioned his wife and he  said she  knows I have a glad eye."   
Sarna resigned in May 2017, a few months after Mistry's ouster.  pandit said she hasn't been given a copy of the committee's finding's. "I have written to everyone including  current Tata Sons Chairperson  with a copy to head of HR for  Taj, for a copy of the final report. But I never received  a response."
When told about Pandi't allegation IHCL spokesperson told The Indian Expressed:"The matter referred to in your mail was investigated and dealt without a appropriate independent committee  constituted for this purpose."
A questionnaire was sent to Tata Sons asking for a response to Pandit's  allegations regarding her "demotion," resignation and not  being sent a copy of the committee's findings. A spokesperson for Tata Sons declined to comment saying that the matter pertained to   Taj Hotels.  
Sarna Couldn't be contacted for comment.  
AZB's Zia Mody, when asked about Pandit's  allegation that the law firm had asked her to sign a letter, declined to comment.
 

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