The Executive Director of Greenpeace India, Samit Aich, resigned on Wednesday, following an immediate internal review of the organisation’s handling of two sexual harassment cases.
A note put on the organisation’s website states that along with Mr. Aich, the Programme Director Divya Raghunandan has also resigned. The Greenpeace India Board has now decided to commission a full, independent audit of how the NGO dealt with sexual harassment cases to strengthen internal processes to ensure a safe working environment for women.
The victim, an ex-Greenpeace India employee, who quit the NGO about a year ago, accused the organisation of ‘undermining the seriousness of her sexual harassment’ complaint by merely sending her an apology email, as a mark of compensation. In a post published in youth affairs website on June 12, she recounted the harrowing tale of harassment she had to endure during her employment there.
In her statement to a reputed newspaper over the phone, the victim stated that she had been molested and then raped by her colleague at her house in Bengaluru in 2013, after a party. The 25-year-old victim did not file any complaint with the police and mentioned it first on her Facebook account in February this year, which is when the matter first came to light. “I was too afraid to go to the police,” she remarked. “For almost a year after the incident and until I quit in 2014, I had to continue working with the guy who raped me,” she further said. It was not the end when again in October 2012, the victim said she had been molested by another administration staff. She said no official channel was available to address the matter within the organisation.
A few days ago when the sexual harassment case resurfaced after the complainant had published the website article, Aich had told the press that both the men accused in the case had put in their papers only after the complainant had put up posts on Facebook.
Women’s rights lawyer Vrinda Grover, who was until recently on the board of Greenpeace India, remarked that she, too, was aware of the sexual harassment complaints and was dissatisfied with the response given to the complainant. She said that in most cases of workplace sexual harassment it was the woman who quit the job which affected her career prospects. “In order to address this problem, organisations should proactively publish audit reports of safety measures and compliance with the Vishakha guidelines for addressing sexual harassment at work place in order build confidence among women employees,” she concluded in her recorded statement.
Tags: Greenpeace India Greenpeace India Director Samit Aich
