After Wednesday FIR against him for sexual misconduct, TVF founder Arunabh Kumar to hear from cops
TVF founder Arunabh Kumar
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Booked for sexual molestation yesterday by the MIDC police, CEO and founder of digital entertainment firm, The Viral Fever, Arunabh Kumar is likely to be receive summons today to cooperate with the investigation. Police sources said, “The Mumbai police will send summons to Arunabh Kumar today in the molestation case. As per section 41 A of CRPC, the police is expected to send out summons to the accused for a detailed explanation on the case. The police will investigate the case thoroughly before any further action is taken against Arunabh.”
Following the news, Kumar’s friends and colleagues have apparently stepped up to bail him out of the mess. They are said to be in talks with a top lawyer to figure the road ahead. Meanwhile, a team of TVF’s directors arrived in Mumbai from Bangalore this morning, to decide on further plan of action.
After initial assurances about displaying fairness if allegations against the founder had any merit, a once vocal top brass of TVF chose to not take calls the morning after the MIDC police finally registered an FIR against Kumar. The case was registered at 7 pm on Wednesday night following courage shown by one woman from among 50, who had alleged sexual harassment by the media entrepreneur. This, after over two weeks of intense pressure since the first in a series of over 50 allegations emerged, and 11 days since Mumbai police opened an informal investigation in the case.
Mumbai police officer Padmakar Devre at MIDC police station. Pics/ Satej Shinde
Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti confirmed the development to mid-day and said, “On the complaint of a victim, a case under sections 354 (a) [making sexually coloured remarks] and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC has been registered at the MIDC police station against Arunabh Kumar.”
Till Tuesday, the police had been under pressure for not having registered an FIR against Kumar despite the charges. Now, according to sources and details of the FIR, the woman who came forward has alleged that Kumar molested her in 2016 when she interviewed for a gig at the TVF office, and he reportedly touched her and called her “sexy” several times. She approached the MIDC police at around 7 pm and the FIR was officially lodged at 8.45 pm.
Meanwhile, in a bid to make their case stronger, the police has appealed to the other women to also come forward and record their statements.
TVF CEO Arunabh Kumar's office at MIDC Andheri
Mounting pressure to act
Following a criminal complaint against them by lawyer Rizwan Siddique for not taking a third-party FIR as he originally sought, and the public outcry over failure to reach out to the victims except sending out one tweet on March 14 to appeal to the women to lodge an FIR, the police initiated an informal inquiry.
On Wednesday, a highly-placed officer from Mumbai police said, “If any victim feels uncomfortable to come to the police station, they are free to call us anywhere. We are ready to come to their doorstep. So that they can record their statement freely, we will only send our female staff.”
mid-day has been at the forefront of sustained reportage on the case ever since Kumar became the centre of a controversy after an anonymous blogger (under the pseudonym Indian Fowler) made allegations on March 12 that she had faced repeated sexual harassment at the workplace from Kumar over a span of two years.
He said, she said
The blogpost opened a Pandora’s box, and more allegations began pouring in, some anonymously. But, of the over 50 complaints doing the rounds since March 15, only one has materialised into a formal case so far.
Meanwhile, on March 29, mid-day had reported that despite police claims of reaching out to the victims, one of the survivors contradicted the claim and said, “I don’t think the cops are serious about the matter. My post is still active on Facebook and has been quoted by several publications, but I haven’t got a single call from the police. I am well aware that they want us to record a statement with them. But I find them hostile, and despite reassurances, I don’t feel safe about it [lodging a complaint].
However, they claim to be doing a thorough investigation. They should have reached out to me if they were doing their job well.”
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