Let me be very clear with this right in the first line: I am not saying Arunabh Kumar is guilty, simply because it is not up to us to pronounce anyone guilty or not guilty, that is the job of the Judicial system, and should be left with them. 

 The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act was enforced on 9th December, 2013, which enables women to report instances of sexual harassment at their workplace, creating a system of redressal of complaints and also providing safeguards against false false or malicious complaints. Under the act, and from the pages of Wikipedia, the Act also covers concepts of 'quid pro quo harassment' and 'hostile work environment' as forms of sexual harassment if it occurs in connection with an act or behaviour of sexual harassment.

This means that a woman who files a sexual harassment complaint must be taken seriously and investigated internally via a committee, before proceeding further depending on the woman deciding to press charges or not. 

Considering these rules and guidelines, one would be correct in raising a question about why, when an anonymous blog posted on Medium accusing TVF's founder Arunabh Kumar, the company itself released a statement instead of the man himself, and what a statement that was. 

The above words are from TVF's official statement, which can be read by clicking here. As you can see, if you read the entire statement, the above lines sound more like a threat than an official statement. Instead of actually investigating the matter internally, this is what they chose to respond with. 

Now, the reason I'm speaking about this at length because it highlights a deep rooted issue of sexual harassment and the lack of will to investigate the issues. The recent firing of Amit Singhal, a former Google employee who had subsequently joined Uber is just one of the issues that add to the pile. A recent article in The Guardian (which you can read by clicking here) revealed the shocking amount of sexual harassment present in startups, after a blog post of a former Uber employee went viral. 

Let's be clear about one thing, no matter who you are, a safe workplace is everyone's responsibility. Your co-workers are not conquests for you to add to your collection of trophies, and if you are a senior and you ask out your subordinate, that is harassment. It is always a bad idea to mix work with romance, but to take advantage of women at your workplace is even lower than that. 

I get the feeling, why should you take responsibility for something that doesn't seem your fault, right? It's because you owe it to your co-worker to create a safe working environment. Students of today are the professionals of tomorrow, and it is up to us to notice instances of sexual harassment around us and call it out, and ensure that you create and maintain a workplace that is welcoming of all genders, and not just one. 

A recent news report in Hindustan Times revealed that 70% of women do not report sexual harassment at the workplace, because more often than not, a woman is not believed even when she comes out with a complaint. It is this culture of silencing victims and not believing them that has led to workplaces becoming toxic, among many other problems that women face in the society and at the workplace.

Do your part for the country, for women, and for your workplace, enough is enough, stand up for what's right and do the right thing. A safe workplace is everyone's responsibility, and by everyone, I mean all of us. You, me, your brothers, cousins, sisters, friends.

Everyone.