Nashik TCS chargesheet: SIT invoke rape, SC/ SC abuse section

In Maharashtra, a 1,500-page charge sheet has been filed before the court at Nashik in connection with the alleged sexual assault and attempted religious conversion case linked to a TCS facility in the city. According to SIT Chief Sandeep Mitke, the charge sheet was filed against four accused, Matin Patel, Nida Khan, Danish Shaikh and Tausif Attar. He said, additional charge sheets related to seven to eight persons connected to offences are expected to be filed within the next three to four days.Matin Patel is the AIMIM corporator from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, from whose home Nida Khan was arrested earlier this month. 
They have been charged under multiple provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including sections related to sexual assault, outraging religious sentiments, criminal conspiracy and cheating, along with provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.The chargesheet filed Friday before a Nashik court is based on FIR registered at Deolali Camp Police Station on 26 March this year. Officials further stated that two cases have been registered against Nida Khan, while six to nine cases each have been registered against the other accused.
The SIT concluded that the offences were committed as part of a “criminal conspiracy”.  Investigation in the same offence will continue and upon receipt of additional evidence, a supplementary chargesheet will be filed before the court under Section 193(9) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita,” it said in a statement.
Nashik Police is yet to file charges for the remaining 8 FIRs filed at the Mumbai Naka Police Station on 2 April, and “bail applications of the accused in all these offences have been rejected” by the court.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has directed the company to undertake sweeping reforms across all its units to ensure compliance with the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act. In a statement, the commission said it had conducted a hearing Thursday to raise “serious concerns regarding systemic gaps in workplace safety and implementation of the PoSH Act” at the firm’s Nashik office.
NCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar has directed TCS to constitute separate Internal Committees in all 127 units with 10 or more employees within four weeks, conduct comprehensive PoSH training programmes, submit annual PoSH reports to authorities, and ensure the physical presence of concerned officials in the next review meeting.
On 11 May, the NCW had released a report by a fact-finding committee, headed by retired Bombay High Court judge Justice Sadhna Jadhav, which looked into the allegations. The committee, which had visited Nashik in April, described the workplace environment as “deeply disturbing and toxic”, with alleged “pervasive sexual harassment and abuse of authority”. It also claimed that younger women employees were subjected to sustained mental harassment, bullying and anti-Hindu commentary, and added that some accused allegedly attempted to influence women employees through religious denigration and coercive behaviour.