TCS Nashik Case: Court Denies Interim Anticipatory Bail To Accused Booked For Hurting Religious Sentiments

In a development in the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Nashik BPO case of sexual harassment and forced religious conversion, a sessions court on Tuesday (April 21) refused to grant interim anticipatory bail to one Danish Ejaz Shaikh, who is named in a separate case of outraging religious sentiments.

Additional Sessions Judge VV Kathare while denying interim anticipatory bail to Danish, who is already in judicial custody in the sexual harassment and forced religious conversion case (separate FIR), noted that he has at least 8 criminal cases lodged against him and also that he deliberately outraged the religious feelings of the complainant Krushna Mane, who is a colleague of Danish at the Nashik BPO.

"It is evident that recitals of the FIR would clearly reveal that the applicant had indulged into activities and by his deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feeling of the informant by insulting his religion and religious belief. The FIR further reveals uttering of the specific words by the applicant with the deliberate intent to wound religious feeling of the informant. The allegations made in the FIR cannot be looked into isolation, when there are serious criminal antecedent against the applicant. The offence charged is having wide social repercussions affecting law and order situation in the society," the judge said in the order.

Judge Kathare therefore, said that since the investigation is at nascent stage, the release of the applicant (Danish) would certainly affect the progress of investigation and thus, rejected his plea.

In the instant case, Mane has alleged that since he is a Hindu, the accused Danish along with co-accused Tausif (also named in the other FIR) often used offending language against his religious belief and they used to praise the greatness of Muslim religion. He also accused them of challenging the validity and existence of his religious belief and because of their malicious acts, the duo outraged his religious feeling.

In his FIR, Mane also alleged that they forced him to read Quran and also to eat non-veg food. They also tortured him by sending his adverse reports to the higher ups and insulted in presence of others. They also threatened of dire consequences. They also used to make sexually coloured remarked against the women in the company and caused their sexual harassment, the judge noted from the FIR.

In the other case pertaining to sexual harassment at workplace and forced religious conversion, the police has till now arrested - Danish Ejaz Sheikh (booked for allegedly luring a victim under the false promise of marriage and pressured others into religious practices), Shafi Bikhan Sheikh, Raza Rafiq Memon (team leader accused of intimidating staff and making obscene remarks about female colleagues), Tausif Attar, Shahrukh Qureshi, and Asif Aftab Ansari (Senior employees implicated in various FIRs for alleged stalking, harassment, and forced religious conversion attempts.)

The police has also arrested Ashwin Chainani, an Operations Manager of the POSH Committee, for alleged failure to address harassment complaints.

Only prime accused Nida Khan, the HR Head is yet to be arrested. However, her plea for ad-interim anticipatory bail was rejected on April 20.

Case Title: Danish Ejaz Shaikh vs State of Maharashtra

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