Petitioner-1, victim; is the main petitioner and employee of Sanofi India Limited. Petitioner-2, Sushma Maurya is President of Awwaaz Foundation, a duly registered Ngo working for women’s empowerment. There are 8 parties in the Writ Petition.
Respondent-1 is the global Chief Executive Officer of Sanofi. Respondent-2 is incumbent Managing Director at Powai, Mumbai. Respondent-3 is the Asia-Pacific HR. Respondents 4, 5 are senior management seated at Powai, Mumbai. Respondent-6 is Compliance officer of Sanofi, Powai having submitted Internal Complaints Committee (“ICC”) Report. Respondent-7 is the accused sexually harassing Petitioner-1. Respondent-8 is State of Maharashtra, Department of Law and Justice;
Respondents are management personnel of Sanofi, a multinational pharmaceutical company operating globally. Sanofi produces medicines not just for India, but for its global operation, considering low cost of labour and cost of production. It employs more than 3,000 employees across India. Shares of Sanofi are quoted on the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges.
2019 annual reports, p.45 mentions “During the year 2019, the Company i.e. Sanofi received one complaint of alleged sexual harassment which was thoroughly investigated by the Internal Committee. In such matters on the recommendations of Internal Committee, appropriate disciplinary and corrective actions are taken by the Company.”
And, further DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY STATEMENT, p.44 states “During the year under review, the Statutory Auditors, Cost Auditors and Secretarial Auditors have not reported any instances of frauds committed in the Company by its Officers or Employees to the Audit Committee under section 143(12) of the Act, details of which needs to be mentioned in this Report.”. These false statement in annual reports are fraud executed by Sanofi India on investors. Respondents-1 to 6 have failed in reporting evidences of bribery provided by Petitioner-1 to SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office), which are mandatory requirements for a limited company. Therefore, non-adherence to Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace, Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal Act 2013 (the “Act”) by the Respondents-foreign management brutally exploiting Indian resources for exclusive profit making; without conforming to the Act, is blatant abuse of process of the law. Respondent-1,2,3 and 6 are senior executives responsible for implementing the Act in India.
THAT, thereafter, on 09-07-2018 through email, Petitioner-1, Victim whistle-blew unethical corrupt practices of fraud, bribing distributors for increasing sales at Sanofi; wherein, cash was collected from her and other employees forcibly. Petitioner-1, Victim submitted written complaints along with video recording of bribing distributors for increasing sales; to the management. The Companies Act contains provisions to prevent corruption and fraud in companies. Section 177 of the Companies Act requires every listed company to establish a vigilance mechanism for directors and employees to report genuine concerns and to provide for adequate safeguard mechanism against the victimization of persons who use such a mechanism. Albeit, without adequate mechanism in place, Petitioner-1 was victimized sexually by Respondent-7 with the connivance of Respondent-4, and Respondent-5 (both at Senior level). And, later by Respondent-6 (ICC), who subverting justice, conclusively closed, defenestrating the entire case;
PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS IN ICC NOT ADHERING TO PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL JUSTICE – NO INVESTIGATION, NO FRAMING CHARGES, OPEN AND SHUT CASE:
Petitioner-1, victim approached Petitioner-2, Sushma Maurya of Awwaaz Foundation in dire condition when she was feeling suicidal. Petitioner-1,Victim narrated entire incident from bribery to being sexually harassed, upon which Petitioner-2, a registered NGO working for women’s right took the initiative considering mental and harassed condition issued notice to the police station and SANOFI through their lawyer to provide legal assistance to the victim. Thereafter, Petitioner-1 approached many other private lawyers who were not willing to institute proceedings against the Pharma giant. Considering lack of initiative from lawyers, Petitioner-1 again approached Petitioner-2 insisting that the present matter be pursued with the help of her NGO lawyer who was convinced into contesting the present matter. However, after Sanofi’s false and concocted ICC report, Petitioner-1 fell sick and underwent operation due to depression, ill-health and lack of social support. Considering mental trauma and mental harassment of Petitioner-1, Petitioner-2 agreed to take initiative in present case; understanding of the entire case and various health circumstances of Petitioner-1 consumed considerable amount of time of the present lawyer. Petitioner-2 has agreed to testify whatever knowledge she has pertaining to this case in interest of justice, without prejudice towards none, The matter is before Bombay High Court.
Should people fear the coronavirus?
Public health experts say 1 million worldwide deaths are among reasons to be concerned, if not fearful, and to take everyday precautions despite rosy advice from the still-recovering president.
Don’t let it dominate you. Don’t be afraid of it. You’re going to beat it, Donald Trump said in a White House video released after he left the hospital Monday.
In the United States alone, more than 210,000 people weren’t able to beat it.
The seven-day rolling average for new U.S. cases has climbed over the past two weeks to almost 42,000 per day. The nation also sees more than 700 COVID-19 deaths each day.
COVID-19 also is deadlier than the flu, despite Trump’s claim otherwise. Flu has killed 12,000 to 61,000 Americans annually since 2010, according to CDC estimates.
It is true that the vast majority of people who get COVID-19 develop only mild symptoms. But experts can’t predict which patients will develop dangerous or deadly infections. And only a small percentage of Americans have been sickened by the coronavirus, meaning the vast majority are still at risk for infection.
It is true, as Trump said in the video, that medicines have been found that can treat the virus, reducing chances for severe illness and death. But there is still no cure for it and no definitive date for when an effective vaccine might become widely available.
Another reason for concern is uncertainty over which patients will develop lasting complications affecting the lungs, heart, kidneys and other organs. While these are more common in patients with severe infections, persistent symptoms lasting several months have occurred even in those with mild disease. Fatigue is among the most common.
Taking everyday precautions including wearing masks and social distancing to curb disease spread doesn’t mean the virus is dominating people’s lives, said Dr. Khalilah Gates, an assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.
There are things we need to do collectively to make sure we minimize the mortality, Gates said. That’s not domination. That’s just being willing to make changes so we can all get through this in a much better and safer way.PTI
The London hearing on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition from Britain to the United States was suspended Thursday because one of the lawyers may have been exposed to the coronavirus.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ordered the proceedings adjourned until Monday while a lawyer representing the US government is tested for the virus.
Assange’s attorney, Edward Fitzgerald, said it had to be assumed that the lawyer had the virus and COVID will be in the courtroom.
Court staff themselves would be at risk, and you yourself may well be at risk,” he told the judge.
“Finally, our client Mr Assange, who is vulnerable you are aware, would be at risk in court. The judge asked for submissions from both legal teams about what to do if the lawyer is confirmed to have COVID-19.
Assange is fighting American prosecutors’ attempt to get the British government to send him to the U.S. to stand trial on spying charges.
US prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Assange’s lawyers say the prosecution is a politically motivated abuse of power that will stifle press freedom and put journalists around the world at risk.
The hearing started Monday at London’s Old Bailey criminal court and is scheduled to last about a month.
Wildfires have burned a record 2 million acres in California this year, and the danger for more destruction is so high the US Forest Service announced on Monday that it was closing all eight national forests in the southern half of the state.
After a typically dry summer, California is parched heading into fall and what normally is the most dangerous time for wildfires. Two of the three largest fires in state history are burning in the San Francisco Bay Area.
More than 14,000 firefighters are battling those fires and dozens of others more around California.
A three-day heat wave brought triple-digit temperatures to much of the state during Labour Day weekend. But right behind it was a weather system with dry winds that could fan fires. The state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas & Electric, was preparing to cut power to 158,000 customers in 21 counties in the northern half of the state to reduce the possibility its lines and other equipment could spark new fires.
Randy Moore, regional forester for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region that covers California, announced the national forest closures and said the decision would be re-evaluated daily. Campgrounds at all national forests in the state also were closed.
The wildfire situation throughout California is dangerous and must be taken seriously.” Moore said. Existing fires are displaying extreme fire behavior, new fire starts are likely, weather conditions are worsening, and we simply do not have enough resources to fully fight and contain every fire.”
Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said it’s unnerving” to have reached a record for acreage burned when September and October usually are the worst for fires because vegetation has dried out and high winds are more common.
The previous high was 1.96 million acres burned in 2018. Cal Fire began tracking the numbers in 1987.
While the two mammoth Bay Area fires were largely contained after burning for three weeks, firefighters struggled to corral several other major blazes ahead of the expected winds. Evacuation orders were expanded to more mountain communities on Monday as the largest blaze, the Creek Fire, churned through the Sierra National Forest in Central California.
It was one of many recent major fires that has displayed terrifyingly swift movement. The fire moved 15 miles (24 kilometres) in a single day and burned 56 square miles (145.04 square kilometres).
Debra Rios wasn’t home when the order came to evacuate her hometown of Auberry, just northeast of Fresno. Sheriff’s deputies went to her ranch property to pick up her 92-year-old mother, Shirley MacLean. They reunited at an evacuation centre.
I hope like heck the fire doesn’t reach my little ranch, Rios said. It’s not looking good right now. It’s an awfully big fire. Mountain roads saw a steady stream of cars and trucks leaving the community of about 2,300 on Monday afternoon.
Firefighters working in steep terrain saved the tiny town of Shaver Lake from flames that roared down hillsides toward a marina. About 30 houses were destroyed in the remote hamlet of Big Creek, resident Toby Wait said.
The Creek Fire had charred more than 114 square miles (295 square kilometers) of timber after breaking out Friday. The nearly 1,000 firefighters on the scene had yet to get any containment. The cause had not been determined.
On Saturday, National Guard rescuers in two military helicopters airlifted 214 people to safety after flames trapped them in a wooded camping area near Mammoth Pool Reservoir. Two people were seriously injured and were among 12 hospitalised.
On Monday night, a military helicopter landed near Lake Edison to rescue people trapped by the Creek Fire, the Fresno Fire Department said on Twitter.
Chief Warrant Officer Joseph Rosamond, the pilot of a Chinook helicopter, said visibility was poor and winds increasingly strong during the three flights he made into the fire zone. His crew relied on night-vision goggles to search for a landing spot near a boat launch where flames came within 50 feet of the aircraft.
The injured, along with women and children, took priority on the first airlift, which filled both helicopters to capacity, he said.
Record-breaking temperatures were driving the highest power use of the year, and transmission losses because of wildfires have cut into supplies. Throughout the holiday weekend, the California Independent System Operator that manages the state’s power grid warned of outages if residents didn’t reduce their electricity usage. But none had occurred by late Monday afternoon.
In Southern California, crews scrambled to douse several fires that roared to life in searing temperatures, including one that closed mountain roads in Angeles National Forest and forced the evacuation of the historic Mount Wilson Observatory.
Cal Fire said a blaze in San Bernardino County called the El Dorado Fire started Saturday morning and was caused by a smoke-generating pyrotechnic device used by a couple to reveal their baby’s gender.
In eastern San Diego County, a fire destroyed at least 10 structures after burning 16 square miles (41.44 square kilometres) and prompting evacuations near the remote community of Alpine in the Cleveland National Forest.
California has seen 900 wildfires since August 15, many of them started by an intense series of thousands of lightning strikes in mid-August. There have been eight fire deaths and more than 3,300 structures destroyed.
Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa will be sworn in as the country’s new prime minister for the fourth time at a historic Buddhist temple on Sunday, consolidating the hard-line political dynasty’s grip on power.
The 74-year-old Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) leader, who polled over 500,000 individual preference votes — the highest ever recorded by a candidate in the history of elections — will take the oath of office for the ninth Parliament at the sacred Rajamaha Viharaya in Kelaniya, a north Colombo suburb, according to an official statement.
The SLPP, led by Mahinda, registered a landslide victory in the general election, securing two-thirds majority in Parliament needed to amend the Constitution to further consolidate the powerful Rajapaksa family’s grip on power.
It won in 145 constituencies, bagging a total of 150 seats with its allies, a two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament. It polled 6.8 million votes (59.9 per cent).
The Cabinet of Ministers will be sworn-in on Monday, followed by the swearing-in of the state and deputy ministers, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.
The new government has decided to restrict the size of the Cabinet to 26, though it can be increased up to 30 in terms of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
The Rajapaksa family — including SLPP founder and its National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa, who is the younger brother of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with the eldest being Mahinda — has dominated Sri Lankan politics for two decades. Mahinda previously served as the president for nearly a decade from 2005 to 2015.
President Gotabaya had won the November presidential election on the SLPP ticket.
In the parliamentary election, he was seeking 150 seats mandatory to execute constitutional changes, including to repeal the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which had curbed the presidential powers while strengthening the role of Parliament.
Reacting on the prospects of amending the Constitution, SLPP Chairman G L Peiris on Friday said it would only be carried out after much thought and consideration.
Clearly, some amendments are required. It cannot continue in this manner when it comes to governing the country, he told reporters.
After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected, the 19A Amendment prevented him from dissolving Parliament to make way for a government which could support his programme of work while former opposition MPs urged that the dissolved Parliament be re-convened, he said.
From the results of the general election, it is evident that the government, people needed after the new President was elected, was quite different to that of the previous Parliament.
These things should be changed. If needed, the new government has the power to amend the Constitution, Peiris said.
When asked whether the Independent Commissions would be abolished, he said there was no such need.
“The intention of the Independent Commissions is to maintain apolitical institutions with appointments made by the Constitutional Council which should also be independent. Anyone can see that these purposes had not been served. To achieve these targets, some reforms are necessary, Peiris added.
Activists, already alarmed by the diminishing space for dissent and criticism in the island nation, fear such a move could lead to authoritarianism.
The biggest casualty from the election outcome was the United National Party (UNP) of former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe which managed to win only one seat. The country’s grand old party failed to win a single seat from any of the 22 districts.
Its leader and four-time prime minister was unseated for the first time since he entered Parliament in 1977.PTI
President Donald Trump said White House coronavirus task force leader Dr Deborah Birx hurt the Trump administration when she said widespread virus infections in urban and rural America mark a new phase for the pandemic.
It was a rare rebuke of Birx. Trump accused her of taking the bait by responding to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who told ABC’s This Week that she had lost confidence in Birx because Trump appointed her and the president has been spreading disinformation about the virus.
Trump, in a tweet on Monday, described Birx’s response to Pelosi as pathetic .
On CNN’s State of the Union , Birx said her comments are driven by data and that she would stake her 40-year career on using data to implement programmes to save lives.PTI
The White House and its GOP allies appear to be retreating from their opposition to a USD 600-per-week supplemental unemployment benefit that has propped up the economy and family budgets but expired Friday.
President Donald Trump is eager to extend the benefit, undercutting his GOP allies on Capitol Hill who have spent considerable effort devising an alternative that could unite Republicans.
The unemployment insurance is a principal element as talks continue on a COVID-19 relief bill, which is expected to grow considerably from a 1 trillion-plus GOP draft released this week.
Top Democrats announced a meeting with administration representatives for Saturday morning after Thursday night talks at the Capitol failed to produce a breakthrough.
The two sides took their case to the media Friday morning, with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaking to reporters on short notice at the exact moment House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared at her weekly news conference.
Meadows accused Democrats of refusing to negotiate, saying Trump has instructed him to be aggressive and forward-leaning in trying to extend the supplemental jobless benefit.
Democrats have made zero offers over the last three days, said Meadows, an inexperienced negotiator and former tea party lawmaker. He said Democrats are willing to play politics” and are acting like they hold all the cards.
The White House on Thursday offered a one-week extension of the 600 weekly unemployment benefit, top Democrats said, but Pelosi rejected it, saying it needs to be addressed as part of a far more sweeping bill that would deliver aid to state and local governments, help for the poor and funding for schools and colleges to address the pandemic.
Without action, the unemployment benefit ran out Friday and both the House and Senate have left Washington.
“Clearly they did not understand the gravity of the situation, Pelosi said. She said a short-term extension only makes sense if the two sides are close to a deal.
Why don’t we just get the job done? she asked.
An aide familiar with the talks said Pelosi rejected an administration offer of a four-month extension of the benefit at 400 per week, combined with additional provisions for particularly hard-hit businesses and a shield against lawsuits for businesses, schools and other entities that reopen as the pandemic continues to rage.
The aide wasn’t supposed to divulge contents of the talks and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Pelosi, brimming with confidence, offered a tutorial on negotiating Friday.
There are two things to remember. One is the person you’re negotiating with has to want something for the American people, Pelosi said. And they have to know you will walk if you don’t get a good enough agreement.
Republicans in the Senate had been fighting to trim back the 600 jobless benefit in the next coronavirus package, but their resolve weakened as the expiration of the popular benefit neared and as Trump undercut their position by signaling he wants to keep the full 600 benefit for now.
We want a temporary extension of enhanced unemployment benefits,” Trump said at the White House on Thursday. This will provide a critical bridge for Americans who lost their jobs to the pandemic through no fault of their own.
On Friday, Trump took to Twitter to explicitly endorse extending the 600 payment and to criticize top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer.
Very disappointed in @SenSchumer for blocking the temporary extension of the 600 unemployment benefits. The Do Nothing Democrats are more interested in playing politics than in helping our deserving people, Trump tweeted.
There continues to be agreement among Washington’s top power players that Congress must pass further relief in the coming days and weeks.
Do we want to continue to come to an agreement? Absolutely,” Schumer said.
But it’s got to meet the gravity of the problem. Democrats hold a strong negotiating hand exploiting GOP divisions over whether more aid is even needed and they are expected to deliver a necessary trove of votes.
Both sides say the talks have not produced much progress, but they could be nearing a critical phase over the weekend and into next week. The pending COVID-19 rescue bill, the fifth since the pandemic has struck, is likely the last one before the November election.
Republicans controlling the Senate have kept the relief measure on pause in a strategy aimed at reducing its price tag. But as the pandemic has worsened in past weeks and as fractures inside the GOP have eroded the party’s negotiating position Republicans have displayed some greater flexibility.
The Democrats are playing for Nov. 3, and we’re playing for the good of the people. It is a disgrace that they are not negotiating, Trump said Friday.
I think it’s a bad political game. I think it hurts them. Also at issue in the negotiations is an almost 1 trillion Democratic demand for funding for state and local governments, a second 1,200 direct payment to most American adults, more than 100 billion to help schools reopen and a liability shield measure that is essential to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Air France and regional subsidiary Hop announced 7,500 job cuts Friday after the virus pandemic grounded most flights and darkened prospects for future air travel.
Activists from multiple unions protested at Air France headquarters at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport as talks began Friday morning about future job prospects at France’s flagship airline.
They’re particularly angry that the French government didn’t require Air France to protect jobs when it won 7 billion euros ( 8 billion) in state bailout funds in May.
Workers warned that the job cuts will ripple across the French economy, and said bailout funds should be used to rebuild the company instead of pushing people into unemployment.
After a day of talks with personnel representatives, company management announced Friday night that it will cut about 6,500 of 41,000 jobs at Air France and 1,000 of the 2,400 jobs at Hop by 2022.
The company said most of the losses will come through not replacing retiring and departing workers and that it would encourage voluntary departures and early retirements before imposing layoffs.
Airlines around the world are forecast to lose 84 billion this year, with revenue halved. Some have filed for bankruptcy or sought bailouts to survive the near-shutdown in their activity, and officials predict the industry will take years to recover.
It’s too easy to take COVID-19 as an excuse, said Julien Lemarie, a 35-year-old Hop mechanic demonstrating at the airport.
The scale of this plan it’s enormous, it’s an absolute sledgehammer blow. Air France said its traffic sank 95% over the worst three months of the coroavirus pandemic and it was losing 15 million euros a day and that it doesn’t expect to recover until 2024.
The airline argued that the state bailout would allow it to withstand the short-term crisis and help it focus on changing its domestic business model and becoming more environmentally responsible.
The 7 billion euros in state aid for Air France is in the form of loans and loan guarantees and part of a broader 15 billion euro rescue plan from the government for the aviation sector.
The Air France meetings come days after European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, based in France, said that it must eliminate 15,000 jobs to safeguard its future.PTI
Heavy rain in southern Japan triggered flooding and mudslides on Saturday, leaving more than a dozen missing and others stranded on rooftops waiting to be rescued.
More than 75,000 residents in the southern prefectures of Kumamoto and Kagoshima were asked to evacuate following pounding rains overnight.
NHK television footage showed large areas of Hitoyoshi town in Kumamoto inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River. Many cars were submerged up to their windows.
Mudslides smashed into houses and floodwaters carried trunks from uprooted trees. Several people were standing atop a convenience store as they waited for rescuers.
NHK said about 13 people were reported missing. Kumamoto officials say they were still assessing the extent of damage.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe set up a task force, vowing to do utmost to rescue the missing.
The Japan Meteorological Agency earlier issued warnings of extraordinary rain in parts of Kumamoto, about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Tokyo, but later downgraded them as the rainfall estimated at 100 milimeters (4 inches) per hour subsided.
Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima said he requested help from the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
China under President Xi Jinping has stepped up its “aggressive” foreign policy toward India and “resisted” efforts to clarify the Line of Actual Control that prevented a lasting peace from being realised, according to a report released by a US Congress appointed commission.
The armies of India and China have been locked in a bitter standoff at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for the last seven weeks, and the tension escalated after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash in the Galwan Valley on June 15.
Under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping, Beijing has stepped up its aggressive foreign policy toward New Delhi. Since 2013, China has engaged in five major altercations with India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), said a brief issued by US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
“Beijing and New Delhi have signed a series of agreements and committed to confidence-building measures to stabilise their border, but China has resisted efforts to clarify the LAC, preventing a lasting peace from being realised, said the report and was prepared at the request of the Commission to support its deliberations.
Authored by Will Green, a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs Team at the Commission, the report says that the Chinese government is particularly fearful of India’s growing relationship with the United States and its allies and partners.
The latest border clash is part of a broader pattern in which Beijing seeks to warn New Delhi against aligning with Washington, it said.
After Xi assumed power in 2012, there was a significant increase in clashes, despite the fact that he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi several times and Beijing and New Delhi have agreed to a series of confidence-building mechanisms designed to mitigate tensions.
Prior to 2013, the last major border clash was in 1987. The 1950s and 1960s were a particularly tense period, culminating in 1962 with a war that left thousands of soldiers dead on both sides, according to the records of China’s People’s Liberation Army, the report said.
The 2020 skirmish is in line with Beijing’s increasingly assertive foreign policy. The clash came as Beijing was aggressively pressing its other expansive sovereignty claims in the Indo-Pacific region, such as over Taiwan and in the South and East China seas, it said.
China is engaged in hotly contested territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built up and militarised many of the islands and reefs it controls in the region. Both areas are stated to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are vital to global trade.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea. Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the area.
Several weeks before the clash in the Galwan Valley, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe called on Beijing to use fighting to promote stability as the country’s external security environment worsened, a potential indication of China’s intent to proactively initiate military tensions with its neighbours to project an image of strength, the report said.PTI
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