By Sharanya Gopinathan
So the news has just broken that an FIR has been filed against TVF CEO and Chief Dude Bro Arunabh Kumar, and he’s been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (for sexual harassment) and 509 (for word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman).
The Hindustan Times reports that there’s no indication that he’s filed for anticipatory bail, and anyway, it’s a non-bailable offence, so it would be opposed even if he did. The police are looking to arrest him, and a team had gone to the TVF office, but Kumar was not there. The woman who has filed the FIR is allegedly not the woman who made the very first allegations against him on social media. That post, by the way, has since been suspended from Medium.
We’re not sure what will come of the TVF case, but it has definitely put workplace sexual harassment back in the public eye. Filmmaker Vaishnavi Sundar has been doing some in-depth research on the subject for well over four months now (long before these allegations at TVF came to light of course), for a film that she’s doing on workplace sexual harassment. While the film has nothing to do with the TVF case, it could still go a long in way in helping people understand exactly what happens in cases of workplace sexual harassment, especially after cases are filed.
The film, called But what was she wearing? examines the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act of 2013, and “juxtaposes the expectations and realities of seeking redressal” for workplace sexual harassment under this Act. Which is interesting, because many of us know about the existence of this law and the earlier Vishaka Guidelines that it builds upon, but not that much about how exactly it works, and what the potential for receiving justice under it in real terms really is. The film explores both successful and unsuccessful stories of legal cases, and explores the cultures behind these cases and results. It also looks at the idea of workplace harassment outside of walled offices, and in industries that don’t operate out of conventional offices.
Watch the trailer here: