‘Nida Khan at home, no cops showed up’: Family of Nashik TCS accused decries foul play

NAshik: The 26-year-old Nida Khan who has been portrayed as the absconding organize at the TCS-run BPO in Nashik, is in bombay, and where she is expecting her number one baby, her fellowship has told Hindustan Times.They also confirmed that Khan does not work for the BPO’s human resources team, as is being widely reported by television channels and in social media. Her designation is that of tele-caller, and she is part of the sales team. She joined the BPO in December 2021, and is not among its senior employees. There are at least three levels of senior personnel above her, confirmed multiple sources. “She has never been associated with the HR team,” they confirmed.Also read: Amid new revelations in Nashik BPO sexual harassment case, women's panel to visit TCS office at centre of storm today“A photograph of hers with the designation ‘HR head’ of the Nashik unit of the firm has gone viral on social media platforms and is now being shown by TV news channels. Her image was taken from her Instagram account and this designation was superimposed on it,” said her younger brother who did not want to be named for fear of being hounded.Accusations against Nida Khan Khan is among 8 employees who have been accused of alleged rape, sexual harassment, religious coercion, and other kinds of harassment of their co-workers at TCS’s Nashik BPO. Seven of the accused are under arrest while police claim Nida Khan is absconding.Also read: Pakistan-linked accounts fanned violence during Noida workers' protest, 2 held: PoliceFamily decries foul play Speaking with HT on Thursday, her father who was once proud of his daughter for securing a job in a multinational company, says he now regrets encouraging her to work. “It would have been better if she had not worked at all. Such terrible things are being said about her, none of which are true. We have been so upset. Her mother has taken ill,” said the father who runs a timber business in the city. “My daughter has not done any of these things, she just went to work every day and got in trouble just for saying hi and bye to people,” he claimed.Also read: Indian-origin woman, with son in US army, held by ICE; 24 hours no food, photographed in cuffs: ‘Treated like criminal’Khan and her two siblings, a younger brother and an older sister, were educated in Nashik. She graduated with a degree in commerce, and is at present studying for an MBA degree through correspondence in addition to working, 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, and where she was working at the company’s BPO at Malad until her suspension on April 9. “She is not running away from anything. And I do want to say that so far no police officer has shown up at our door asking for her whereabouts,” said Khan’s maternal uncle.Her lawyer Baba Sayyed said that they are in the process of filing an anticipatory bail application for her before the sessions court in Nashik. “It’ll be done in a couple of days,” he added.Also read: Trump says Iran war progressing ‘swimmingly’, could end very soon“For the first couple of days when the police made the entire issue public, we thought that there could be some other woman with the same name that the police had booked, but then she herself told us that a case has been filed against her. Our entire family has suffered huge mental trauma,” said Khan’s brother.Of the nine FIRs filed, Khan has been named in one FIR lodged at the Devlali Police Station on March 26 pertaining to religious harassment.Messages seeking a comment from TCS received no response until the time of going to press.What is TCS Nashik case?The entire case came under a spotlight after an FIR was filed by Nashik police based on a 23-year-old BPO employee’s complaint accusing her senior colleague Danish Shaikh of sexual harassment and conducting sexual relations under the false pretext of marriage. The case was lodged under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) including section 69 (sexual intercourse obtained through false promise to marry), 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 revealing that he was already married and this misleading her into having sexual relations with him. While the woman alleged that Danish and another colleague Tausif tried to convince her about the merits of Islam over Hinduism, she accused Nida Khan and Tausif of making objectionable comments about a Hindu deity. The complainant has not made any other allegation against Nida Khan in the FIR of March 26 that has been accessed by HT.On Thursday, Nashik police rearrested two of the six males accused in two new cases pertaining to sexual harassment at the workplace. Both men who were in judicial custody have now been remanded to police custody afresh, said assistant public prosecutor, Aniket Awad.