In a dramatic turn of events, a female employee, sick and tired of enduring relentless sexual harassment, took matters into her own hands in a daring bathroom sting operation.
The scene? A local workshop, where the brave woman, phone at the ready, lay in wait in a toilet cubicle, poised to catch the sleazy peeping Tom red-handed. The culprit? None other than her colleague, Tarun Kumar.
The drama unfolded as the woman, who had been putting up with Kumar’s inappropriate advances for nearly two years, finally snapped. She was determined to catch him in the act as he spied on her through a hole in the bathroom wall. Despite her best efforts to snap a photo of the voyeur, Kumar eluded capture but couldn’t escape the confrontation that followed.
The workshop had become a hotbed of harassment, with Kumar constantly bombarding the woman with unsolicited comments on her clothes, appearance, and relationship status. He serenaded her with Hindi love songs, called her “princess”, and bombarded her with inappropriate texts and creepy close encounters at work.
In a shocking incident that sounds straight out of a movie, Kumar had the audacity to force a ring onto the woman’s finger, while touching her inappropriately, only to mockingly dismiss her objections.
Fed up, the woman took her case to the Human Rights Review Tribunal, which has now ruled in her favour, ordering Kumar to pay a massive $29,000 in compensation, plus nearly $3,000 in lost wages.
Kumar, in a feeble attempt to defend his despicable behaviour, denied the toilet incident and insisted that his actions were taken out of context and were not sexual in nature. However, evidence of his misconduct, including a video of another woman’s bare buttocks and a suggestive text, had conveniently vanished from his phone.
The business itself, caught in the crossfire of this sordid saga, went into liquidation, citing this litigation and competitive industry pressures.
In its decision the tribunal highlighted the significant power imbalance, with Kumar being a friend of the owner, more senior, and older than the victim. The tribunal blasted the workplace environment, stating that no employee should have to tolerate sexual harassment to earn an income.
Michael Timmons, representing the woman, hailed the ruling as a major victory for sexual harassment claims, noting the importance of higher compensation in these cases.
Kumar, apparently too cowardly to face the music, did not respond to a request for comment from media.
