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Speaking exclusively to The Quint, advocate Rizwan Siddiquee confirms that he has filed a third-party application to the Mumbai Police, requesting an FIR against TVF founder and CEO Arunabh Kumar on charges of sexual harassment. The women who have alleged harassment have welcomed the complaint and say they are glad that this issue has now gone beyond mere social media outrage.
Both TVF and Arunabh Kumar are yet to respond to the filing of the complaint and the imminence of a police probe.
The complaint lists IPC sections 354 and 509, which refer to unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures, a demand or request for sexual favours and insulting the modesty of a woman.
Speaking to The Quint, advocate Rizwan Siddiquee explains what prompted him to approach the police.
“The police were showing their helplessness, asking what they could do since the women alleging sexual harassment by Arunabh Kumar have not filed a police complaint so far.”
The Quint has published accounts of several women who have come forward to allege that TVF CEO Arunabh Kumar sexually harassed them.
The Quint reached out to the women who have alleged being sexually harassed by Kumar.
Welcoming the complaint, another alleged victim told The Quint,
Yet another woman, who has also alleged being sexually harassed by Kumar, says
The fourth alleged victim to respond to news of the police complaint, wrote to The Quint saying,
A human rights activist has filed a complaint on the matter with the State Women’s Commission as well. Speaking to The Quint, the activist explained the reason for his complaint.
The following is a copy of the complaint accessed by The Quint.
The Quint has contacted both The Viral Fever and its founder Kumar for their response to the filing of the police complaint. This article will be updated as and when they respond.
TVF core team member Nidhi Bisht had recently announced that the company was going to conduct an internal probe into the allegations.
Today’s complaint by lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee makes a police probe seem imminent as well.
(Correction: An earlier version of this story mentioned that an FIR had been filed against Arunabh Kumar based on the complainant’s reaction. This has now been corrected to reflect that a police complaint has been filed at the moment.)
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