NASHIK: 26-year-old Nida Khan, who was portrayed as the fugitive mastermind of a TCS-run BPO in Nashik, is in Mumbai, where she is expecting her first child, her family told Hindustan Times.
They also confirmed that Khan does not work in the HR team at BPO, as widely reported by TV channels and social media. She is hired as a remote caller and is part of the sales team. She joined BPO in December 2021 and is not among its senior staff. There are at least three levels of senior staff above her, multiple sources have confirmed. They confirmed that she was “never associated with the HR team.”
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Her younger brother, who did not want to reveal his name for fear of prosecution, said: “A picture of her bearing the title of ‘Head of Human Resources’ in the company’s Nashik unit has gone viral on social media platforms, and is now being shown by TV news channels. Her picture was taken from her Instagram account and this designation has been superimposed on it.”
Charges against Nida Khan
Khan is among 8 employees who have been accused of rape, sexual harassment, religious coercion and other types of harassment of their co-workers at TCS’s Nashik BPO. Seven of the accused are in custody while police claim Nida Khan is absconding.
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The family condemns foul play
Speaking to HT on Thursday, her father, who was proud of his daughter for getting a job in a multinational company, said he now regrets encouraging her to work. “It would have been better if she had not worked at all,” said the father, who runs a lumber company in the city. “Such terrible things are being said about her, and they are all untrue. We were very upset. Her mother has fallen ill.” He added: “My daughter did none of these things. She went to work every day and got into trouble just for saying hello and goodbye to people.”
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Khan and her two siblings, a younger brother and an elder sister, were educated in Nashik. She graduated with a degree in commerce and is currently studying for a master’s degree in business administration through correspondence as well as work, her family said. Khan’s uncle added that after her marriage last year, Nida Khan moved to Mumbai in January this year to be with her husband, where she was working at the company’s BPO in Malad until she was suspended from work on April 9. “She is not running from anything,” Khan’s uncle said. “And I want to say that so far no police officer has shown up at our door asking about her whereabouts.”
Her lawyer Baba Syed said that they are in the process of filing an anticipatory bail application for her before the sessions court in Nashik. He added: “This will be done within two days.”
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Khan’s brother said: “For the first two days when the police announced the whole case, we thought it was possible that there was another woman with the same name who was booked by the police, but then she herself told us that a case had been filed against her. Our entire family suffered enormous psychological trauma.”
Of the nine FIRs filed, Khan was named in an FIR lodged at Devlali police station on March 26 related to religious harassment.
Messages seeking comment from TCS received no response as of press time.
What is TCS Nashik case?
The entire case came to light after the Nashik police filed an FIR based on the complaint of a 23-year-old BPO employee accusing her senior colleague Danish Shaikh of sexual harassment and having sexual relations under the false pretext of marriage. The case has been filed under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections including Section 69 (sexual intercourse with false promise of marriage), 75 (sexual harassment), 299 (insulting religion or religious belief), and 3(5) (constructive or joint liability).
In the complaint, the woman accused Danish of not disclosing that he was actually married, which led to him misleading her into having sexual relations with him. While the woman claimed that Danish and another colleague Tauseef tried to convince her of the advantages of Islam over Hinduism, Nida accused Khan and Tauseef of making objectionable comments about a Hindu god. The complainant has not made any further allegation against Nida Khan in the FIR dated March 26 seen by HT.
Nashik Police on Thursday arrested two of the six men accused in two fresh cases of sexual harassment at the workplace. Assistant Public Prosecutor Aniket Awad said the two men who were in judicial custody have now been remanded to police custody.
