CEOs caught in sexual harassment cases

Phaneesh Murthy is not alone in facing a sex harassment case.

In spite of growing intolerance towards harassment among corporates across the world and strict laws, there are many CEOs in India and abroad who have been charged with sexual harassment.

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HR consultants say less than 1 per cent of sex harassment cases are reported in India as powerful employers/owners sack the complainants and give negative references to the complainant during background checks.

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Pradeep Srivastava: Shrivastava, who was the chief marketing officer of Idea Cellular left the company in 2010 after he was accused of sexual harassment by a female colleague 25 years his junior.

Srivastava did not reply to the charges when media asked him at that time.

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David Davidar: The head of Penguin in Canada, was asked to leave the company after a female employee filed a suit in the local court.

A $523,000 lawsuit was filed by Lisa Rundle, former Rights and Contracts director, Penguin Canada in June 2010.

She claimed $423,000 in damages from Penguin for wrongful dismissal and $100,000 from the company. The case was later settled out of court.

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C Venkatramana: In 2004, the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Nalco, C Venkatramana surrendered before the Mumbai police after he was accused of sexually harassing a subordinate.

A woman employee of Nalco filed a case before the police alleging that Venkatramana and another manager of the company sought sexual favours from an employee in order to obtain a promotion.

The CMD was suspended and the case is still pending.

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Gopal Kanda: A politician and a promoter of an airline, Kanda is facing rape and abetment to suicide charges after one of the airline's 23-year employee committed suicide.

In her August 2011 suicide note, she blamed Kanda for sexually harassing her in return for employment in the airline.

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Mark Hurd: In June 2010, Hewlett-Packard Co. ousted its CEO, Hurd for allegedly falsifying documents to conceal a relationship with a former contractor and help her get paid for work she didn't do.

Hurd was sacked after the employee sent a letter to the top officials.

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn: The disgraced former chief of International Monetary Fund was arrested in US in 2011 as he tried to escape the country after sexually assaulting a hotel maid.

The case was later settled out of court. Later, Kahn was accused of sex harassment by a journalist for sexual harassment in 2002.