Graveyard Responsibility

 

 

On February 21, the much-publicised Pratibha Srikanta Murthy murder case took a new turn. The Supreme Court ruled that action should be taken against Som Mittal, CEO of HP Global Soft Ltd, for the murder of one his employees three years ago.

On December 13, 2005, Prathibha Srikanta Murthy, an employee of his Bangalore-based IT company was allegedly raped and murdered by her cab driver, Shivakumar, while on her way back home. The Police had then filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Som Mittal, for violating statutory orders.

Mittal, now the NASSCOM chief, had appealed to the Karnataka High Court to quash the FIR. But the High Court rejected his plea. Next, Mittal moved the Supreme Court to quash the FIR, but that plea too has been turned down. Clearly, the increasing trend of attacks on women employees working in the night is causing ripples in the rarified world of IT.

Consider this:

2007- A driver threw acid on a woman employee of BPO in Pune.

2007, November 1: Jyothikumari Chaudhari was raped and killed by a cab driver and his friends at Pune.

2007 November: 24-year-old BPO staffer, Priti Ganguly, was attacked when she returned home at three in the morning at her Dadar residence in Mumbai

A complex vortex of laws coupled with the emergence of new industries like IT have thrown traditional security mores out of gear. In the Bangalore case for instance, the issue was whether Mittal had defied the state’s regulations on working hours? The original Karnataka Shops and Establishments Act, 1961, prohibits employment of women during night shift between 8 pm and 6 am. But as a concession to the IT boom, which is basically headquartered in Bangalore, the Act was amended in 2002 to exempt women working in IT/ITES sectors, subject to the condition that the establishment would provide facilities of transportation and security to such women employees who work on night shifts. Mittal faces prosecution under the 2002 amended Act.

The apex court’s directive has raised an ethical question. Are the companies and their CEOs, which are minting money through its graveyard shifts, responsible for the safety of employees?

The business of graveyard shifts and transportation at night, particularly for its women employees, haunts the major IT-BPO hubs in the rest of the country too. The post-midnight scenario at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi-Gurgaon, Chennai and other important centres, and the security hazards that it presents, is a question both companies and their employees are asking. Vijayalakshmi working in a Chennai IT company begins her day at 2.30 am. “It looks like an odd hour, but we work according to Australian timings. Our company sends a pick-up cab. My duty finishes by 12 noon. I return by public transport as it is daytime.” The problem arises after nightfall. Everyday almost 750,000 employees work for BPOs only in India. Of them, a whopping 40% workforce comprises women, which makes security a major concern for these IT companies.

“The safety and security concerns of the women will come into the picture when someone is raped or murdered. In addition, there are cases of sexual harassment by senior male colleagues,” says Sushma, who works for an IBM call centre in Bangalore.

IT-BPO employees say that the employers are too busy lining their pockets to bother too much about the condition of their workers. “No doubt IT and BPOs are bringing name and fame to Karnataka and India and creating thousands of jobs annually. If the CEO of the company thinks that his only job is to announce quarterly results at crowded press conferences, then that’s ridiculous. Ethically, he must understand that because of employees like me, who work for the company day and night, that he can proudly announce his profits sitting on a dais. He is responsible for everything including the safety of the employees,” says Manyatha, an Infosys BPO worker in Bangalore.

Officials at IT companies admit security standards are lax. “I have been with a BPO for the past five years and I personally feel that BPOs don't take care of employees the way they should, specially smaller BPOs who are prepared to compromise with the security of women employees,” explains a senior personnel at HeroITES in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi. Meanwhile, Prathibha’s mother, Gawramma, is distraught. “My daughter Prathibha had to sacrifice her life to highlight the lackadaisical attitude of the company. In her death, my daughter has made the life of women employees more secure,” an emotion-laden mother told TSI. She is happy about the SC’s recent directive: “This affirms the responsibility of companies who employ women on night shifts,” Gawramma says.

Needless to say, IT companies are disturbed. In a statement issued to the media, CEO of Infosys BPO Ltd, Amitabh Chaudhry, made this point emphatically. "We are perturbed by the verdict. An individual can't be held responsible for the safety of so many employees. It is the job of the government and the police."

Clearly, no one knows where the buck stops. Joint Commissioner of Police, Bangalore, Gopal B. Hosur, told TSI very clearly: “According to the Karnataka Shops and Establishments Act, the employer has to take care of safety aspects of employees. The state or the police department cannot give protection to each and every IT-BPO employee. The primary onus will be on the companies who are trying to shift their responsibilities.”

Not surprisingly, there is a proposal to introduce women drivers and women escorts for women employees for purposes of safety. A question being frequently asked is: Women who have worked night shifts in industries like hospitality, health, aviation and media earlier have never made similar complaints. How come?

One reason attributed for the change is the age factor. In IT, it is not uncommon for 19-23 years to lead their own bohemian lifestyle. But surely that cannot be a reason for these increasing attacks on women. Because if that were to be the case, then the entire future of the industry is likely to become uncertain. A resurgent India, riding on the back of a BPO boom, can hardly afford such stumbling blocks.