A heavy cross to carry

Talk about bad timing. Barely a fortnight after the curtains came down on the Nasscom Leadership summit in Mumbai, its President finds himself in the dock. The Supreme Court has allowed the prosecution of Som Mittal to go ahead, for his liability in the rape and murder of a HP GlobalSoft employee by a cab driver. Before taking over at the helm of the apex body for the IT and ITES industry, Mittal was head of HP GlobalSoft’s operations in the industry when the gruesome incident happened two years ago.

Even though all Mittal faces is a paltry fine of Rs 1,000, if ‘convicted’, the Supreme Court’s decision has stirred up a debate in the industry. In December 2005, HP GlobalSoft employee Pratibha Murthy was brutally murdered and raped by an unauthorised cab driver working for the company. The Karnataka State Labour Department initiated proceedings against the company, claiming that it failed to provide ‘adequate security’ to its women employees, thereby violating the State’s Shops and Commercial Establishment Act. According to the department, Mittal as Managing Director of the company was responsible for the welfare and safety of the company’s employees.

In turn, Mittal had moved the Apex court, the Karnataka High Court and then the Supreme Court, arguing that he was exempted from liability as the head of the company. But the recent judgment has paved the way for his prosecution—a decision that most of the IT and ITES industry views as being unfair. HP, for the time being, has this to say: “..the Honourable court has not pronounced either Mittal or HP guilty on any count. It has only directed Mittal to urge all the contentions as available under law, including maintainability of the complaint, before the trial court. However since the matter is sub-judice, HP would not like to comment on any specifics related to the case at this point.”

But the issue has raised the hackles of an industry that feels that it’s being unfairly targeted. “Why blame a CEO for something that a cab driver does? It’s like holding the Prime Minister or a President directly responsible for every murder in the country,” says the COO of a Bangalore-based financial services BPO company. “This case is a litmus test for the entire industry,” he adds emphatically.

Almost 35 per cent of all employees in the industry are estimated to be women—a bulk of them work on the night shift. BPO firms like Firstsource believe that the industry offers the best safety and work environment for its women employees. “No other industry offers the facilities we offer. In which other industry do you have women employees being picked up and dropped at their doorstep? We take care of our women employees more than any other industry,” says Ananda Mukerji, MD & CEO, Firstsource. The company also follows other safety procedures like never first picking up or dropping a woman employee off last. “All car drivers carry photo IDs that are prominently displayed and awareness drives are periodically conducted to see the employees recognise that they can take precautions like checking a photo ID. Women get calls prior to pick up giving the car number and driver’s name. If a woman wants to leave early for whatever reason, a security guard accompanies her in the car,” adds Mukerji.

— T.V. Mahalingam