A court in Maharashtra’s Nashik district has remanded four employees of Tata Consultancy Services to judicial custody until 18 May in connection with allegations involving the religious conversion of a male colleague and the sexual harassment of women employees.
According to PTI, the four accused were produced before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate S V Lad on Tuesday after the end of their police custody period. The prosecution sought judicial custody, which the court granted.
The employees had earlier been remanded to police custody until 5 May following their arrest last month by a Special Investigation Team.
Employees booked under multiple BNS provisions
The accused have been identified as:
- Raza Rafiq Memon, 35
- Tausif Bilal Attar, 37
- Danish Ejaz Sheikh, 32
- Shahrukh Husain Shaukat Qureshi, 34
According to PTI, the Special Investigation Team arrested the four employees on 23 April under several provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The sections cited in the case include:
- Section 75: Sexual harassment
- Section 79: Act intended to insult the modesty of a woman
- Section 299: Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings
- Section 302: Deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person
The case relates to allegations surrounding the religious conversion of a male colleague at TCS’s Nashik office, alongside accusations of workplace misconduct involving female employees.
Court proceedings move into judicial custody phase
The transition from police custody to judicial custody marks the next procedural stage in the investigation.
After the police custody period ended on Tuesday, the accused were presented before the Nashik court, where prosecutors argued for continued detention during the ongoing investigation.
The court subsequently ordered judicial custody until 18 May.
No further details regarding the evidence presented during the hearing were disclosed in the PTI report.
TCS reiterates zero-tolerance policy
Following the arrests, TCS said the employees accused in the sexual harassment allegations had been suspended.
The company stated that it has maintained a “zero-tolerance policy towards harassment and coercion of any form” for a long time.
TCS has not publicly commented in detail on the allegations or the ongoing legal proceedings beyond confirming the suspension of the employees concerned.
Case draws attention within India’s IT sector
The case has attracted attention because it involves employees at one of India’s largest technology services companies.
Tata Consultancy Services is among the country’s leading IT services and consulting firms, employing hundreds of thousands of workers globally.
The proceedings also come amid increased scrutiny of workplace conduct policies and employee grievance mechanisms across India’s technology sector.
The investigation by the Special Investigation Team is expected to continue while the accused remain in judicial custody pending the next court hearing later this month.