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December 05, 2013

Tehelka on Tehelka : Media and Sex sells , Exclusive, 1- 15,Dec, 2013, JUST IN PRINT

Tehelka on Tehelka : Media and Sex sells


The editor-in-chief of India's leading investigative magazine is being probed over claims that he sexually assaulted a woman colleague. The case came to light after the victim complained in an email to a superior that Tarun Tejpal, founder of the award-winning weekly, Tehelka, assaulted her twice in a hotel elevator during a conference in the resort state of Goa this month.
Tarun Tejpal, who edits the weekly Tehelka, said he was "recusing" himself from his job for the next six months to "atone" for an "unfortunate incident" that involved a female colleague.

The alleged victim's unidentified confidante told the NDTV news channel that the woman had been subjected to "an act of grave sexual misconduct" and that she was "completely shattered and emotionally scarred".
The government of Goa state, where the alleged incident happened in early November, has now ordered a "preliminary inquiry" into the allegations, reports say.

Papers are urging all organizations, including media houses, to set up bodies in compliance with government guidelines to ensure women's right to work in an environment "free of sexual harassment".
"Several disturbing cases of alleged sexual harassment at the workplace have been aired recently, all of which involve senior men in positions of power making advances on vulnerable young women," says The Times of India .
The paper further adds that "sexual harassment gives rise to a workplace that is hostile to women. It amounts to sexual discrimination that is punishable by law. Only institutional checks can address such power imbalances".

The Judiciary, the legislative, the media – the Indian woman is not safe anywhere. Forget the workplace; women bear the most dastardly abuses with a smile on their face within the “safe” confines of their homes. But that is beside the point. The astute arrogance brandished by the man in question, with no sign of the remotest repentance, has sent shivers down the spine of people across the country. As a fan of this journalist, and as a former employee of this organization, it clearly makes me ashamed as a human being.

The pompous letter of atonement, the self-proclaimed recusal and the shoddy defence on part of the organizational head does not inspire confidence in people who would’ve otherwise wanted this episode to pass off as a horrific nightmare. The same magazine that has time and again given voice to the tortured women, taught them to raise their voice against Khap panchayats and moral policing was found to be lacking in action; even worse, brushing the entire narrative under carpet.

Even now, there were people – self-proclaimed women’s rights activists, who care two hoots about state-sponsored surveillance on private citizens, but are overtly eager to publicize their concern for the victim in Tehelka. Then there were those who took voyeuristic pleasure in sharing intimate details of the episode on social media. Media houses were quick to post columns and opinion pieces on sexual harassment at workplace and assume the high moral ground. Some idiots proclaimed their feminism by abusing the daughter of the perpetrator, forcing her to delete her Twitter profile. Somewhere, the victim, the sufferer lost her voice.

When glass houses lie shattered, the ensuing gush of blood is often attended to. Nobody spares a thought for the injured vein.
Reena Mukherjee , a senior journo who had an experience of decade in this field till she took a sabbatical after having a daughter. Resuming her career after 5 years , she got a job as a “ Senior Journalist” in Statesman in Kolkata. Here she had to undergo a rigorous sexual harassment by her senior. When she complaint about this matter to the higher authority in the media house rather she was advised to talk to her boss about the matter but nobody paid heed to her grievance. When she tried to minimize contact with her boss , she was terminated from her job for incompetence in October 2002. She filed a complaint in the labor court for wrongful termination. Finally, in Feb 2013, she was awarded judgment in her favor after a long tedious battles and odds of 9 years.

But what is rare are the women (or men) who actually report the harassment and file official complaints. And when those brave women actually do that, it is rarely acknowledged publicly.
Women who work in the media are generally intelligent, fairly confident and have progressive feminist views on how women should be treated. As a general rule, so do their male counterparts.
Then why is sexual harassment and the culture of sexism still rife in our industry?

Most women, including those who allowed me to quote their experiences, will not discuss this topic. It is a taboo subject because there is a fear of reprisal. Despite most media houses having policies on sexual abuse or any kind of harassment, most women are afraid to stick their necks out in the institutions in which they work.
“It is just not worth it,” said one. “I love my job and don’t want to jeopardize it. I may hate that this happened to me but I deal with it. Besides, what happens if I do complain?” More than anything, women in this industry don’t want to be seen as weak or victims because it would affect their work and how they are perceived in the newsrooms.

India’s new law meant to prevent and redress incidents of sexual harassment of women in the workplace isn’t likely to do much of either, say women’s rights activists. The Sexual Harassment at Work Place ( Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal ) Bill has been passed in parliament last February, 2013 by both the houses , this law comes at a time when Indian authorities have been facing increasing public anger over incidents of rape across the country, particularly after the death of a 23-year-old student who had been gang raped in Delhi in December.

While India already has laws against rape and sexual molestation, the recently passed law is the country’s first dedicated to sexual harassment at work. It defines such harassment broadly as unwelcome physical contact and making “sexually colored” remarks and includes any behavior that interferes with a woman’s work, creates an intimidating, offensive or hostile work environment for her.

As more and more women join the workforce in India, sexual harassment at work has become a growing problem. A 2010 survey of 600 female employees in India’s information technology and outsourcing industry found that 88% of them had faced some form of sexual harassment at work. In most cases, the perpetrator was a superior at work, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Transforming India, a Delhi-based non-governmental organization.
The new law is meant to prevent such harassment and provide an avenue for women to have their complaints resolved, but activists say it falls short on several fronts.
It is badly drafted. What they gave is mediocrity. The law requires that all companies and employers who have more than 10 employees, constitute an “Internal Complaints Committee” to which an aggrieved woman can take her complaint. This committee, which must be headed by a senior female employee, is supposed to try initially to get the complainant and accused to reach a settlement and only launch an investigation in the case if mediation fails.

If harassment is proved, the law leaves it up to the internal committee to decide a monetary fine to be paid by the perpetrator, depending on their “the income and financial status”. But more chances of mishandling it is there.

Sexual harassment at the workplace is a universal problem. Even though the occurrence of sexual harassment at the workplace is widespread in India and elsewhere, this is the first time it has been recognized as an infringement of the fundamental rights of a woman, under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India "to practice any profession or to carry out any occupation, trade or business".

Of late, the problem of sexual harassment at the workplace has assumed serious proportions, with a meteoric rise in the number of cases. Surprisingly, however, in most cases women do not report the matter to the concerned authorities.

In India, Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution provide safeguards against all forms of discrimination. In recent times, the Supreme Court has given two landmark judgments -- Vishakha vs State of Rajasthan, 1997, and Apparel Export Promotion Council vs A K Chopra, 1999 -- in which it laid down certain guidelines and measures to ensure the prevention of such incidents. Despite these developments, the problem of sexual harassment is assuming alarming proportions and there is a pressing need for domestic laws on the issue.

India is rapidly advancing in its developmental goals and more and more women are joining the workforce. It is the duty of the state to provide for the wellbeing and respect of its citizens to prevent frustration, low self-esteem, insecurity and emotional disturbance, which, in turn, could affect business efficacy, leading to loss of production and loss of reputation for the organisation or the employer. In fact, the recognition of the right to protection against sexual harassment is an intrinsic component of the protection of women's human rights. It is also a step towards providing women independence, equality of opportunity and the right to work with dignity.

In the last 50 years, various international human rights organisations have been focusing on promoting and protecting women's rights. The United Nations has acknowledged that women's rights are synonymous with human rights. The same was reiterated in the Beijing Declaration.

Most international women's human rights movements have raised their voice against abuse and violence perpetrated against women in general. In 1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Areas where discrimination was found to be rampant include political rights, marriage, family and employment. The convention emphasised that discrimination and attacks on a woman's dignity violated the principle of equality of rights.

The ground reality is, that, the media in India needs to wake up and look inwards. It needs to see the misogynistic attitude that’s all prevailing.
The fact is that we might fight for the rights of the underdogs and do exposes on corruption etc but not many of us have the guts to speak out against our own fraternity. I mean it took me five years to even write about my experience openly, though I have discussed it with my peers.

What we also need is for the women journalists to stay united to help one another. To be able to stand up for one another and to be empowered enough so that issues are not pushed under the carpet under the garb of ‘internal matter’. In my case it was the NWMI which helped me fight back and supported me.

Ultimately we must have the ability to call spade  a spade and a zero tolerance policy within media houses and organizations for this kind of behavior. Believe me, Tarun Tejpal’s actions  are not an exclusive phenomenon. He just ended up being the face of a deeper malice plaguing the Indian media.

Time the Indian media treats this as a much needed wake up call and put in place measures to ensure such things don’t repeat. At the least provide ways for the victim to feel safe enough to complaint and give hope and support to them.



Now a new story will start, it will be no use. Although Tejpal accepted but the law will do actions accordingly. Chances are that the victim will be hostile later on and the things will be alright. It is a time taking business of medias. it is true that under the power this is now very common things. all round it is happening. Some are suffering and none are opposing. It is very common culture. All are against the act are also enjoying in somewhere in on its way and are silent. It is the cheapest way to achieve goal.

Siddhartha Shankar Mishra,

Sambalpur, Odisha

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