Observing that despite being an internal member of the POSH committee, she had ignored complaints, a sessions court rejected the bail application of Ashwini Chainani, the operations manager at TCS Nashik. The court had on Friday rejected the bail pleas of five persons including Asif Ansari, Raza Memon, Tausif Attar, and Shahrukh Qureshi, accused of sexual harassment.

Several FIRs were filed following allegations of sexual harassment and forced religious conversion against some of the employees at TCS Nashik. “It would be evident that the applicant Ashwini Chainani, despite being a member of POSH committee/internal committee demonstrated insensitivity to the oral complaints lodged by the victim and thereby not only she has shielded the accused but also abetted them to continue with their acts of sexual harassment,” the court said in the detailed order. The court said that her “insensitivity and silence” endorsed the activities of the accused.

Chainani had sought bail stating that she was operating and posted at the Pune office and the day to day work at the Nashik office was not directly under her supervision. She also said that she had no knowledge regarding the alleged incidents and had not received any report or complaint of sexual harassment. She had also argued that two others leading the team had allegedly been informed and had not taken action, but they were not named as accused.

One of the complainants had alleged that Chainani was her site head and she had complained to her about sexual harassment by one of the men in her team, Reza Memon. In February 2026, the complainant said that she had orally informed Chainani about it but she did not take action. It was alleged that despite repeated complaints no action was taken.

While Chainani had raised the issue of delay in the FIR, the court did not accept the contention. “Victim cannot be blamed for delay in lodging the complaint in as much as she had promptly brought the circumstances to the notice of applicant Ashwini Chainani being member of POSH committee/internal committee,” the court said.

Against the other accused, the victims had said that they were subjected to continuous sexual harassment including by making objectionable comments.

“…it needs to be observed that the victim who hails from a humble background and starting earning to support their family and for her economic independence, cannot be a subject matter of easy prey by their counterparts. Asking intrusive and embarrassing questions about their personal life and physical appearance, touching them with an indecent intention, passing sexually coloured remarks, cannot be said to be prevailing culture in the multinational company like TCS,” the court said.

It also rejected the contention that there was a delay. “It can be seen that the complaint of sexual harassment has to be routed through the accused persons who were the team leaders and the victim worked under them. She is coming from humble background and serving in the company to financially support her family and for economic independence. In the event of lodging complaint against her superiors, she would invite adverse consequences affecting her service, career and there is further apprehension that parents, spouse of the victim would rather ask her to quit the employment in view, of allegations of sexual harassment. Therefore, delay, if any, is prima-facie justified by the circumstances brought on record,” the court said in separate orders.