Police said the mill’s HR manager V. Muttiah (46) and women’s hostel warden R. Lata (39) was arrested on Sunday morning.
The Saravanampatti police in Coimbatore on Sunday arrested the Human Resource (HR) manager of a spinning mill and the warden of its women’s hostel for allegedly assaulting a Jharkhand-based woman employee. This action has been taken after the video of the assault went viral on social media.
Police said the mill’s HR manager V. Muttiah (46) and women’s hostel warden R. Lata (39) was arrested on Sunday morning.
According to the police, a group of women from Jharkhand had come to the mill at Udayampalayam near Coimbatore two weeks ago. The mill management told the police that the women stayed in the hostel and did not come to work for a week.
On November 27, when Lata questioned the women about this, a woman allegedly pushed her. Police said this led to a fight and the HR manager thrashed the woman with a stick, the video of which went viral on social media. The warden was accused of pulling the woman’s hair.
Thangadurai, deputy director of industrial safety and health, Thudiyalur, lodged a complaint with the police on Saturday.
Saravanampatti Inspector L. Kanthasamy investigated the incident and charged the HR manager and warden for offenses under sections 294 (b) (obscene acts and songs), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) arrested for. ), 506 (1) (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and section 4 (punishment for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act.
Deputy Commissioner of Police ES Uma said that the police have informed the labor department to investigate the incident.
Industry sources said any mill where women workers are not treated as per norms should be taken into action. “We conduct awareness programs and teach employees how to treat women workers. There are also social audits. Still, such incidents do happen,” said a representative of a textile mill union.