The Viral Fever (TVF) CEO Arunabh Kumar has been given interim relief from arrest in a molestation case till April 17 by a Mumbai sessions court.
As per reports, Kumar approached the Dindoshi sessions court for anticipatory bail, in the case of molestation, filed on March 29, after a victim complained at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Police Station.
The investigating inspector Padmakar Devre from the MIDC said that the complainant is not Kumar’s employee.
Kumar was later summoned by the MIDC Police to join the investigation in the case. The case against him was registered under Sections 354 A (sexual harassment) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He has now put in an application for Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA).
On March 30, another case similar case was filed against Kumar in the Versova Police Station, Mumbai.
All this comes after a former TVF employee wrote a blog on medium.com, accusing Kumar of harassing her sexually. The post then went viral and a number of women began speaking up against Kumar stating similar experiences. The post is now ‘suspended’.
TVF and Arunab Kumar denied allegations. “We take a lot of pride in our team and in making TVF a safe workplace that is equally comfortable for women and men. We will leave no stone unturned to find the author of the article and bring them to severe justice for making such false allegations,” a statement from the company said.
This raised further debate questioning TVF’s insensitivity to the issue through its response. “We did send out an instant response, which may have been a bit too quick & emotional. We recognise that we should have handled that response better,” the company said in a statement issues in response.