Let’s not bury our heads in sand. #metoo #freedomofspeech
Many of you will remember @FactorDaily’s investigative stories in April 2017 of sexual harassment allegations by several women against venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy.
Here's a small victory for those women. 1/n
Many of you will remember @FactorDaily’s investigative stories in April 2017 of sexual harassment allegations by several women against venture capitalist Mahesh Murthy.
Here's a small victory for those women. 1/n
On Monday, the Delhi High Court vacated its interim orders of April 2017 restraining publication of certain impugned allegations of sexual harassment made against Murthy. A single-judge bench presided by Justice Jayanth Nath passed the order. 2/n
In its three-part series, FactorDaily had reported accounts of six women -- three went on record -- dating from 2003 to 2016: factordaily.com/?s=mahesh+murt…. About 20 other instances came our way, almost always in professional relationships, but the women didn’t want to go public. 3/n
FactorDaily’s first story on April 21, 2017 had accounts of author @rashmibansal and an HR manager Anamika. Also, Murthy’s partners at SeedFund confirmed they had heard Murthy’s transgressions. factordaily.com/mahesh-murthy-… 4/n
The second story soon after had even more sordid details. It had the experience of @Swatisays Swati Pandey, a Reuters reporter in Sydney now, from 2003 when she was just 19 years old and two others. factordaily.com/mahesh-murthy-… 5/n
The third story was from 2006 of a woman executive at an Indian IT giant. Murthy had exchanged sexually loaded messages with her while pitching services of Pinstorm, a marketing company he ran. Her employer chose not to do business with Pinstorm. factordaily.com/indian-it-comp… 6/n
FactorDaily and I were one among 18 defendants named in a defamation case filed by Murthy. Other defendants included Bansal, entrepreneurs Pooja Chauhan and Wamika Iyer, who had called out his inappropriate behaviour. 7/n
Journalists at publications such as @DeccanChronicle , @YourStoryCo , and @SheThePeople were named in the suit. Murthy even made two of his partners in SeedFund defendants. They had confirmed to FactorDaily that they had heard of rumours of Murthy’s transgressions. 8/n
Here are news reports today from @htTweets @MumbaiMirror hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/hc-… and mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/crime/c…
“The said defendants have a right to exercise their right of freedom of speech. If these incidents and claims of the said defendants are in trial proved to be false, the plaintiff would have a right to claim damages,” Justice Nath said in his order. 10/n
In 2017, I was shocked that tech and VC circles knew of Murthy’s behaviour but an all-pervasive bro culture kept it quiet. That has changed today and I am thankful to the women who went public with their stories: you REALLY are the brave ones here. 11/n
Finally, a big shout-out to @JoseyJohn , my editor, who helmed this series and other great narratives at FactorDaily. 12/n
You can read FactorDaily‘s official statement on Monday’s order here and access the full order of the Delhi High Court here. factordaily.com/delhi-high-cou… and http://164.100.69.66/jsearch/ 13/13
