Arunabh Kumar: Progressive TV Show Producer With A Regressive Work Methodology

Yesterday a blog published on Medium.com accused Arunabh Kumar, the CEO of the popular YouTube channel TVF (The Viral Fever) of sexual molestation. And after reading the viral blog, other women, who have worked with TVF in the past have also accused Arunabh of the same behaviour. Substantiating the claims further.

Such accusations are, candidly speaking, not at all uncommon and workplace sexual harassment is a very serious issue. CEOs and other men in positions of power ( not generalising) do try to exploit the asymmetric power equation that exists between them and the female employee. In the past there have been sordid cases of sexual harassment that have involved influential people, the literati-glitterati and the who’s who of the world of media, film industry and finance. Be it Tarun Tejpal case or RK Pachauri, or former IMF boss Dominique Straus Kahn.

The lady who wrote the blog accused Arunabh of getting indecent with her and trying to molest her on more than one occasion and at different places – be it office, or serial shooting, or office party. She has given details of how Arunabh inappropriately touched her and tried to get close to her. After this accusation, many other ladies, all previous employees of TVF, have come forward and said they have had similar experiences in the past. They are lending credence to the accusations of the lady who wrote the original post. Meanwhile, there has been outright denial from TVF and they have called the accusations as completely baseless and unverifiable. Arunabh maintains that he hasn’t done anything wrong and he advised the lady to lodge an FIR against him or contact the Women’s cell of TVF.

As the issue will unfold in coming days, wheat will be separated from the chaff, but gender sensitisation and special, women friendly cell’s and helpline numbers against sexual harassment are of utmost importance. Women shouldn’t be made to feel vulnerable just because of the clout the perpetrator wields or because he hobnobs with influential people. Police department needs to be imparted gender sensitisation training too so that they do not make the woman feel uncomfortable and trivialise her complaint and her travails.

Here is how other comedians have reacted to the news.

 

Silence from the comedy community is deafening.EVERYONE still"texting contacts"/"verifying facts" inspite of hearing stories abt it for yrs?

— Aditi (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

And THAT my friends is why "there are so few female comics" a question that I get CONSTANTLY asked as if I should have the ans to the ques.

— Aditi (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

The fact that the diggaj-log of comedy who make videos & even take money from brands for their saleable feminism are quiet today is telling

— Aditi (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

Journos calling all the women in comedy to go on record– NO. Call the men. See how much they defend their brohood now. Enough is enough.

— Aditi (@awryaditi) March 13, 2017

Much to process after all that's been read today. I hope there's a fair investigation that's followed in the coming days to come.

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017

It is very hard for women to speak up against harassment at the work place and as entrepreneurs it is our duty to make them feel safe.

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017

Startups, or any company, have a responsibility to do sexual harassment training, sensitivity training, set up a committee to deal with this

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017

Very often complaints aren't registered because employees don't even know how to. Very important to keep reminding / assurance of anonymity.

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017

I know many founders are reading this right now – do a townhall tomorrow. Tell your employees that there is a way to address their problems.

— Tanmay Bhat (@thetanmay) March 13, 2017

Sexual harrassment has no place at work in 2017. Any workplace with 10 + employees is legally bound to follow this https://t.co/Pr9mcfdXg7

— Rohan (@mojorojo) March 13, 2017

Sickened by all the allegations coming to the fore. There's no place for such behaviour in 2017.

— Ashish Shakya (@stupidusmaximus) March 13, 2017

It's sad that only when your career can be affected that people take sexual harassment seriously. The casualness around it is super scary.

— Kenny Sebastian (@knowkenny) March 14, 2017

It's vital to learn what sexual harassment is. The "harmless" things you think you say and do could be making people very uncomfortable

— Kanan Gill (@KananGill) March 14, 2017

5 yrs at TVF & no memory of who this Female employee is. It's a baseless fictitious allegation. Haters pls don't stoop down to this level 🙁

— Nidhi Bisht (@EkThapaTiger) March 13, 2017

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