I am Seema (name changed), a 25-year-old single girl and this is my story of how I withstood and overcame harassment at my workplace.

I took a job in a MNC in NCR in November 2014. It wasn’t long before the 42-year-old director (who was married and father of two kids. Daughter (14 ) and son (6)) began to express his romantic interest in me, started asking me out on dates and sent lewd and inappropriate messages very late at night.

Stalking, sending flowers and chocolates at work became a usual thing for him to send. I remained quiet, hoping that this would end soon. He wouldn’t come to office if I was on leave. He came to office the same time as I would and made multiple requests to drop me home after work and lie that he is going around the same area where I live for his own work and would want to drop me on his way. He would also take me out for sales call which wasn’t even part of my job profile, saying that this is would be a new learning for me. I couldn’t say no to him even if I wanted to, because he is the boss and a boss is always right and he could actually jeopardize my future with the company and my career.

Till those 3 months that I was working in that company I had been ignoring all his mid night messages and irrelevant talks thinking that the freak incidences will die a natural death on its own. I was anticipating that some day he might realize that what he is doing is not only unprofessional but also morally wrong.

But in most cases, when a professional decides to keep quiet and does not report against the incident, it is often misconstrued as consent. In mid January 2015, at the company’s sales kickoff, all the team members were made to stay in a hotel. Being the only girl in the Indian team, he wouldn’t let any other team member speak to me. He would follow me wherever I went, except for the washroom and sit next to me in the meetings. On the last day of the sales kick-off, the director messaged me at 1:30 am to come to my room. This is when I raised my voice against him. He became aware of my discomfort and realized that I was not in the mood to take it anymore.

On 1^st February 2015, I spoke with the company’s HR and told her everything that he had been doing and shared all the messages that he had sent me over the period of 3 months. The company fired him on the very next day. But this wasn’t the end. He still stalked me and sent me threatening messages. I left the place and went to my home for a month. He still continued messaging me and managed to get my brother’s number and texted him as well. After a while, he stopped.

Now, when I look back I realize that I should have raised my voice against him in the beginning and shouldn’t have faced all this. I recommend all female professionals to know their company’s and Legal harassment policies beforehand and raise the voice even if you get a slight hint of harassment or unwanted, unprofessional advances.

Do not get afraid! Your resilience and tolerance will just make things worse for you or in future for your family and career. I agree that such harassment cases at workplace may not be common or maybe they are. And it is not possible that your company’s management or colleagues might know about it, until you step up to them and ask for their help. The Prevention of Sexual harassment at workplace act in India, legally protects both female and male employees. Know your rights to protection and a safe and healthy work environment.

The contributor of the this story chose to remain anonymous.

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