Sonam Mahajan, a woman working in the office of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar in Bangalore had accused Abhinav Khare, close aide of the businessman-turned-politician, of sexual harassment.
She was sacked and served an ex-parte injunction that restricted her from speaking to anyone about the matter.
However, Sonam Mahajan took to Twitter on Friday and alleged that Abhinav Khare is misusing her silence and trying to “spread malicious lies.”
She tweeted, “My statement on the sheer abuse of power and temporary ex parte legal relief, granted to my harasser which he is using to spread malicious lies about me while I have been gagged by him from giving any clarifications.”
My statement on the sheer abuse of power and temporary ex parte legal relief, granted to my harasser which he is using to spread malicious lies about me while I have been gagged by him from giving any clarifications. pic.twitter.com/ZcYTAhgbgm
— Sonam Mahajan (@AsYouNotWish) October 18, 2018
I refused to speak to any media person who contacted me or did investigative pieces on the sexual harassment perpetrated on me by Abhinav Khare cuz I didn’t want to violate the court-order.
But I can’t sit and keep quiet when he abuses my silence & the order, now, I WILL SPEAK. pic.twitter.com/D7Fy65CaQU
— Sonam Mahajan (@AsYouNotWish) October 19, 2018
On Friday, Mahajan shared screenshots of the messages she had sent to Chandrasekhar, after which he allegedly blocked her.
Mahajan had joined Chandrasekhar’s office on October 9, 2017 on a one-year contract, which was to be automatically renewed at the end of the term. She reported to Khare, a close friend of Chandrasekhar and also the COO of Asianet, one of Chandrashekhar’s media companies.
A month after joining, she alleged sexual misconduct by Khare in November and filed a complaint directly with Chandrasekhar.
An ad-hoc committee was formed to look into the allegations. The committee handed over its report in June 2018, taking over double the time to investigate the matter than is stipulated under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace law.
The report backed-up her accusations and recommended a range of punitive measures against Khare.
However, there are no records to state whether the company accepted or rejected the report. By the end of September 2018, Mahajan started questioning the progress made on committee’s recommendations. She also refused to re-join work if she still had to report to Khare. Soon, she was informed that her contract will not be renewed and was sacked from the job.
Also Read: #MeToo: Woman Filed Sexual Harassment Complaint Against BJP MP’s Close Aide, Loses Job