TVF molestation row: Nidhi Bisht calls accusations against Anurabh Kumar ‘baseless,’ says appropriate action will be taken

At first, Nidhi, who has been working with TVF for several years, took to Twitter and wrote, “5 yrs at TVF & no memory of who this Female employee is. It’s a baseless fictitious allegation. Haters pls don’t stoop down to this level :(.” Soon when women from all corners started trolling her for taking her company’s side, instead of expressing concern about such harassment at the TVF office. Late in the night on Monday, Nidhi took to her Facebook account to explain what she meant.

Here is Nidhi Bisht’s Facebook post.

Commenting on the blog of Indian Fowler, TVF had earlier official response on Monday. Calling the accusations “categorically false, baseless and unverified,” it had further said, “We will leave no stone unturned to find the author of the article and bring them to severe justice for making such false allegations.” Exactly this did not work well with many of the readers who began accusing TVF of openly threatening the girl.

Here is the screenshot of TVF’s response.

TVF’s Creative Director and actor Biswapati Sarkar‏ also retweeted Nidhi’s post with the captions, “I’m proud to be a part of TVF team. And I can vouch for our work culture any day.”

I’m proud to be a part of TVF team. And I can vouch for our work culture any day. https://t.co/MA5RiuFNk0

— Biswapati Sarkar (@ChhotaThalaiva) March 13, 2017

Ever since the matter came up, several girls, who called themselves either former employees at the TVF, or have worked with the company shared their side of story as well. They said such sexual harassment wasn’t something new at TVF. Popular comedienne Aditi Mittal also stood up and expressed concern about women safety at workplace.

It’s vital to learn what sexual harassment is. The “harmless” things you think you say and do could be making people very uncomfortable

— Kanan Gill (@KananGill) March 14, 2017

it doesn’t matter whether this behaviour is normal in the pop culture you consume. Barney saying it on HIMYM doesn’t absolve you

— Kanan Gill (@KananGill) March 14, 2017

Stand-up comedian and actor Kanan Gill on Tuesday, also took to Twitter and wrote, “It doesn’t matter whether this behaviour is normal in the pop culture you consume. Barney saying it on HIMYM doesn’t absolve you. It’s vital to learn what sexual harassment is. The “harmless” things you think you say and do could be making people very uncomfortable,” which looks like a reaction to what Anurabh’s statement to a leading daily which reads, “I am a heterosexual, single man and when I find a woman sexy, I tell her she is sexy. I compliment women. Is that wrong?”

Also read | TVF molestation row: Hansal Mehta, Apurva Asrani and others express concern over harasment at workplace 

Check out what Nidhi Bisht wrote in her Facebook post:

“Over the last few hours, a lot of things have been said about the ‘TVF culture’. Let me share my side here. Personally, I’ve felt that TVF is one of the best places for women to work. I’ve only been treated with respect and dignity at TVF in general and by Arunabh in particular. Of course that doesn’t mean everyone will share the same experience.

When the first blog post came out 24 hours back, I dismissed it completely because there was no such person of that description in the company at that time. Just to be sure, I checked with a few colleagues and there is no record for such a person ever existing. Hence the accusations on the blog post are completely baseless. Subsequently, a few more Posts have started coming out on social media regarding misconduct on Arunabh’s part. I am as shocked as you guys are.

Let me clarify, that TVF has zero tolerance towards workplace harassment and an investigation will be conducted and appropriate actions will be taken. We have a Prevention of Sexual Harassment committee, backed by Legal and HR which deals with such issues.

In my last tweet, I was only expressing my personal opinions. And I have a right to my perspective, just like everyone. I would request women to come forward, without fear and lodge a formal complaint. Be rest assured, that due actions will be taken and we’ll get to the bottom of the issue.”