TCS sexual harassment case: Court says clear evidence of abetment by POSH committee member

A court in Nashik, Maharashtra, denied bail to TCS site head and POSH committee member Ashwini Chainani, stating that she ‘ignored’ the complaint of a victim in the alleged sexual harassment-conversion case and thus ‘invested’ in the crime.

Besides Chainani, the court denied bail to Tausif Attar, Raza Memon, Shahrukh Kureshi and Asif Ansari in the case on Friday, May 15, 2026.

In the reasoned order submitted on Saturday, May 16, Additional Sessions Judge VV Kathare said Chainani’s “silence and insensitivity effectively promoted the toxic workplace environment”.

Chainani was a member of the company’s Internal Committee constituted under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013, commonly known as the POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment) Act.

However, the order stated that the victim did not help the woman file a written complaint as required by the Act.

“On the contrary, the applicant’s action would reveal that he accused the informant of attracting attention and asked him to release the defendant,” the judge said.

Chainani was arrested in the case on April 10 for alleged abetment under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. According to the victim, she repeatedly approached Chainani with verbal complaints about the harassment, but he did not take any preventive measures.

Defense lawyers argued that Chainani worked primarily from the TCS Pune branch and did not directly supervise the day-to-day operations in Nashik. They said the victim did not submit a written complaint and therefore no formal process was initiated.

The defense also pointed out the delay in submitting the complaint.

However, the court held that “the victim cannot be blamed for the delay in lodging the complaint as she immediately brought the matter to the attention of Chainani as a member of the POSH committee/Internal Committee.”

The court noted that according to the FIR, Raza Memon and Shahrukh Qureshi tried to establish rapport with the victim by giving her a word puzzle to solve, asked her personal, intrusive and embarrassing questions and frequently used obscene expressions.

The atmosphere in the office became so toxic that the victim resigned in March 2026, just before the FIR was registered.

The court stated that although Chainani was a member of the POSH Committee, it was clear that he “showed insensitivity to the verbal complaints made by the victim, thereby not only protecting the accused but also encouraging them to continue their acts of sexual harassment.”

It was stated in the report that there was “clear evidence of abetment by the applicant”.

Additionally, the court held that since the investigation was still in its early stages and given the “influential nature of the applicant and the other accused”, there was a high likelihood that witnesses would be influenced and evidence tampered with if they were released on bail.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Nashik police is probing nine allegations of harassment by the IT professional in its Nashik unit.

Some of the victims also alleged that they were forced to adopt Islamic practices such as praying, changing eating habits and adopting religious symbols.