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Journalism of Courage
Infosys BPO Ltd, a subsidiary of Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second largest software company, has “terminated the services” of Rashid Hussain, an electronics engineer, who was picked up by the Jaipur police in connection with the May 13 serial blasts in the city but later released for lack of evidence.
Hussain, 35, was detained for nine days before his release on June 10. After his release, he was told by Infosys to resume work after a week. However, when he contacted his company at Jaipur, he was served a show-cause notice dated June 27.
The notice cited discrepancies in Hussain’s personal data form submitted at the time of joining more than three years ago. Not satisfied with his reply, Infosys informed Hussain through a letter dated July 14 that it was initiating disciplinary action against him. And his services were terminated three days later.
When contacted, Infosys Human Resources head Mohandas Pai said, “After the event (May 13 serial blasts in Jaipur), we ran a thorough background check on Hussain. It revealed serious discrepancies which led to severance of our relationship with him. This is a normal action to be taken.”
According to Infosys, in his personal data form, Rashid claimed that he worked with EMS Technology as a Technical Support Engineer for over a year between June 1, 2004 and July 31, 2005. Prior to this, he was a Teaching Associate at R.P. Sharma Institute of Technology (RPSIT) for two years between February 4, 2002 and May 30, 2004.
However, the background check by Infosys claimed that his his employment was “fake” since EMS was not a registered company and it could not be found on the physical site visit. Infosys further said that in a meeting on June 23, Hussain had admitted he was working with RP SIT till March 2005.
In a detailed reply to Infosys’s show cause notice, Hussain said to improve his job prospects, he cited his employment with EMS Technology instead of with RP SIT in the personal data form. He was working with RP SIT as a Teaching Assistant and also with EMS Technology during June 2004-July 2005. He also questioned why Infosys’s background check at the time of his recruitment did not throw up these discrepancies.
