A gang-rape of a 22-year-old, women, who worked as a customer care executive at the International Business Machines (IBM) call centre at Phursungi, 16Kms away from Pune, has yet again sent a chill down the spine of women working in the so-called, most secure places to work at - BPO centres.
It is alleged that the victim was gang-raped by eight to 10 people, who are suspected to be cab drivers, on the night of Thursday-Friday, reported the Times of India.
This heinous crime came into the limelight on Friday, when the victim’s boyfriend registered a first information report (FIR) of mass rape. According to the FIR, the victim took a cab from her hostel in Phursungi after she received a call from an official of the company, late on Thursday night, to come to office for some urgent work.
On her way to the office, her vehicle was followed up to a distance by some people, suspected to be cab drivers. The stalkers stopped in a remote area, near a temple from where she was dragged to a hill and allegedly gang-raped between 11.30 pm and 1 am. Later she was dropped by the suspects at the hostel.
She told the incident to her boyfriend, who visited her on Friday, and then took her to the police station for lodging an FIR, there she lost consciousness and was rushed to a private hospital. She was later taken to Sassoon hospital for further medical treatment. The police have registered a case against the suspects.
Roma Nawani, general manager (corporate communications) IBM Daksh said: “It is an unfortunate incident. The local authorities are investing and we are fully co-operating with the police. Any further action would only be decided once the facts are ascertained.”
This is the second such case involving a call centre employee in the city. Last year, in November IT professional Jyoti Kumari Chaudhary was raped and killed. On 6th August, 2008, one more BPO employee was raped in Chennai by her trainer, Jijulal Nair, who mixed a date rape drug in her drink at a social get-together and took advantage.
Such instances are very often making headlines these days, and each time it is followed by promises made by BPOs, about having secure zones for their employees. X |