The Bombay High Court on Tuesday gave top ICICI officials, including CEO and managing director Chanda Kochhar, protection from arrest in a case involving allegations of sexual harassment at the workplace. A female employee with the bank had accused a colleague of sexually harassing her and filed an internal complaint. She later accused ICICI of failing to take action against the harasser —a charge it denies — and filed an abetment case against Kocchar and four executives before a judicial magistrate first class in CBD Belapur.
Last month, the magistrate asked the Navi Mumbai police to investigate the abetment charge, an order that resulted in a first information report against the five ICICI executives. The officials then moved the High Court, seeking quashing of the case.
On Tuesday, a division bench of Justices N H Patil and V L Achliya observed that prima facie there did not seem to be a case against Kochhar; ICICI Prudential Life Insurance CEO Sandeep Bakhshi, HR chief Judhajit Das, branch operations chief Kalpana Sampat and senior vicepresident Poonam Bharadwaj.
While the court didn't quash the case and scheduled another hearing on Friday, it directed the police not to take any action against the five ICICI officials. The employee who alleged sexual harassment worked at the bank's Vashi branch when she filed the complaint with the management.
While she claimed that bank officials didn't take any action, senior advocate Shirish Gupte, who represents ICICI, told the court that that an internal inquiry had not found any merit in the sexual harassment charge.
Gupte also said that the alleged sexual harassment had taken place at a "far-off branch" and that his clients had nothing to do with the case. The magistrate had ordered the police to investigate the abetment allegations under Section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code. On Tuesday, the court observed: "Care needs to be taken by magistrates while exercising powers under the section as the consequences are drastic and result in registration of an FIR."
Additional Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai conceded that there didn't seem to be any material against the ICICI executives. But she said cops were compelled to register an FIR after the magistrate's order. The court adjourned the case till Friday, but asked the police not to take any action against the petitioners.
Last month, the magistrate asked the Navi Mumbai police to investigate the abetment charge, an order that resulted in a first information report against the five ICICI executives. The officials then moved the High Court, seeking quashing of the case.
On Tuesday, a division bench of Justices N H Patil and V L Achliya observed that prima facie there did not seem to be a case against Kochhar; ICICI Prudential Life Insurance CEO Sandeep Bakhshi, HR chief Judhajit Das, branch operations chief Kalpana Sampat and senior vicepresident Poonam Bharadwaj.
While the court didn't quash the case and scheduled another hearing on Friday, it directed the police not to take any action against the five ICICI officials. The employee who alleged sexual harassment worked at the bank's Vashi branch when she filed the complaint with the management.
While she claimed that bank officials didn't take any action, senior advocate Shirish Gupte, who represents ICICI, told the court that that an internal inquiry had not found any merit in the sexual harassment charge.
Gupte also said that the alleged sexual harassment had taken place at a "far-off branch" and that his clients had nothing to do with the case. The magistrate had ordered the police to investigate the abetment allegations under Section 156 (3) of the Criminal Procedure Code. On Tuesday, the court observed: "Care needs to be taken by magistrates while exercising powers under the section as the consequences are drastic and result in registration of an FIR."
Additional Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai conceded that there didn't seem to be any material against the ICICI executives. But she said cops were compelled to register an FIR after the magistrate's order. The court adjourned the case till Friday, but asked the police not to take any action against the petitioners.
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