A women journalist has alleged that she was sexually harassed by her boss after joining Bengal’s celebrated, Anandabazar Patrika in 2006.
“I joined Anandabazar Patrika – the largest-circulated Bengali daily – in mid-February 2006 at the news desk, and I joined the reporting section from April 1 that year. From the very beginning, Debdut Ghoshthakur was my boss, the Chief Reporter”, she writes in news portal, Bengal Story.
Sharing the harrowing details of her harassment, the woman revealed that her boss, the then chief reporter Debdut Ghoshthakur harassed her from the very beginning. “…. he would put his hand around my shoulder and on my back (he did the same with other women in the department too), he would comment on the clothes we wore, especially comment on the cut and depth of the neckline, he would put his hand on women’s shoulders so he could touch the bra.”
Not only, he touched the woman inappropriately, he would often pass comments like “Tor pachha ta boro hoye jachhe” (your buttock is growing bigger), “ki oshleel jama porechhish” (you are wearing such revealing clothes), making female journalists uncomfortable.
She even recounts how whenever she so much as yawned after getting married, he would ask, “Why are you yawning? Ah! Must be because you were awake all night doing it!”
The victim claims she repeatedly asked Ghoshthakur to refrain from touching her, but he refused to respect her wishes. When the victim finally reported the matter to the news editor, he laughed it off, not taking any action against the accused.
Later, when she reported the matter to HR department, it was the victim who was transferred to Ebela, a tabloid news magazine of the ABP group, while the perpetrator continued to stay where he was.
In fact, Debdut Ghoshthakur not only continued to work as Chief Reporter till his retirement, he even got an extension after retirement. ABP has not issued a statement regarding this matter yet, and this copy will be updated once they do.
