Tech Mahindra Sacks Diversity Officer For Homophobic, Racist Slurs

Information technology major Tech Mahindra Ltd has sacked its chief diversity and inclusivity officer accused of making homophobic and racial slurs against a former employee.

(Photo altered by The Quint)

Information technology major Tech Mahindra Ltd has sacked its chief diversity and inclusivity officer, who is accused of making homophobic and racial slurs against a former employee, a week after it said it would conduct an internal investigation on the matter.

The incident was brought to light by a former company employee, Gaurav Pramanik, who on 9 September tweeted that his former head of the department, Richa Gautam, had mocked him, calling him effeminate leading to bullying by other co-workers and affecting his work.

In another incident in 2015, Gautam taunted a former manager of ‘crying like a gay man’ in a staff meeting, according to an email sent to Gautam by Pramanik which he tweeted out, after section 377 criminalising consensual sex between homosexual adults was struck down by the Supreme Court earlier this month.

He also highlighted Gautam’s hatred towards Muslims, calling her behaviour “bigoted and homophobic”.

Soon after the tweet, Tech Mahindra and Group Chairman Anand Mahindra acknowledged the matter, promising a thorough investigation.

Tech Mahindra tweeted last night that Gautam was sacked with immediate effect, “arising out of an investigation carried out in the matter... At Tech Mahindra, we believe in diversity and inclusion, and condemn discrimination of any kind in the workplace.”

Reacting to Gautam’s sacking, Pramanik tweeted, “I stand vindicated. Thank you to all those who've been steadfastly supporting me.”

“The path to my vindication hasn’t been easy over the past week. I have been abused,threatened, maligned and my character been questioned. But I knew it would have been this way all this while, and I was prepared for it to rain on me...However, I hadn’t realised how mentally exhausting all of this was. Thank you to all who have supported me steadfastly.”

Gaurav Pramanik, former Tech Mahindra employee

(The story was published in an arrangement with BloombergQuint)