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The retail head of a Bengaluru apparel firm who was accused of abetting the suicide of a Dalit employee following alleged caste abuse and sexual bullying has been granted bail by a district court.
Vivek Raj (35), a Dalit employee at Lifestyle International, died by suicide on June 4, a day after he filed a police complaint of caste abuse against S B Malathy (40), an executive; Kumar Suraj (45), the HR head; and Nitish Kumar (30), the retail operations head.
In a video posted on social media before his death, the Dalit employee said he had to endure caste-based abuse and harassment at the workplace and that efforts to file a police case had also met with little cooperation.
The Bengaluru Rural district court granted anticipatory bail to Malathy and Kumar Suraj on June 22 and considered the case against Nitish Kumar on parity with the other two executives.
In his bail plea, Nitish Kumar claimed that the complaint of suicide abetment was a “frivolous attempt” to give a criminal colour to a civil employment dispute. The public prosecutor, however, argued that the work managers ill-treated the deceased “by addressing his caste and also not providing work feedback”.
The court has noted that Nitish Kumar had been receiving treatment for depression and that only a full-fledged investigation would reveal whether his death was linked to the caste abuse by the managers.
“Even on perusal of the complaint, it is seen that deceased Vivek Raj was suffering from some mental stress and he was taking treatment for the same soon before his death. So, whether the deceased committed suicide because of his mental depression or whether he committed suicide only because of the alleged abetment made by the accused is a matter yet to be investigated and to be proved at the time of full-fledged trial,” the court said on June 30 while granting bail to the company official.
The district court also observed that though no overt acts of abuse and harassment were found in complaints made by the Dalit employee, a “toxic atmosphere” might have prevailed between team members. It also suggested that since Vivek Raj was being treated for depression, a case of abetting suicide would have to be made out in the course of the investigation.
“Some sexual and caste based harassment are also alleged in the complaint. It was alleged by the deceased that he was sexually bullied and mentally harassed routinely and on a daily basis, which all led to his mental depression,” the court observed.
On Vivek Raj’s June 3 complaint, the Marathahalli police registered a case under sections 3 (1) (r) (intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate members of SC/ST in any place) and 3(1)(s) (abuses any member of SC/ST by caste name in any place) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Act. The trio were then arrested in the case but released on bail later.
“The work feedback that was being provided by my son was being intentionally rejected by his seniors. As a result he wrote to the senior management but his complaints were ignored. He used to tell me about these things. A few months ago, his managers also began abusing him on the basis of his caste. This was also reported to higher officials but no action was taken. And my son was hurt mentally,” Vivek Raj’s father Rajkumar Ramavadh said in his suicide abetment complaint.
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