Seven women petition TOI against KR Sreenivas and Prashant Jha steps down as HT political editor

Seven women have come forward and written to The Times of India accusing the paper’s Hyderabad Resident Editor KR Sreenivas of sexual misconduct. They have asked that he be terminated from employment.

This follows allegations of sexual harassment made by freelance journalist Sandhya Menon on Twitter.

The petition notes that Sreenivas “is a serial sexual predator who has behaved inappropriately with several women”. It also states that Sreenivas “makes work spaces incredibly uncomfortable and unsafe for women, and we have detailed here accounts of 7 women.”

The petition adds: “Sreenivas’s repeated predatory advances are an active threat to the psyche of women who work with him, as well as a massive deterrent to women journalists who come in with hopes and aspirations to pursue their passion. His vindictive lack of boundaries, and utter and complete disrespect of a woman as a person and as a colleague is a shocking disregard of everything that women expect from colleagues and superiors. His compulsive violation of women, their safety and peace of mind, his immense propensity to place women in extreme distress shouldn’t find even a shade of encouragement or ground to flourish and continue. This isn’t only in the interest of the women who have put their name behind this but also in the interest of all the women who may work with him in the future.”

The Times of India ICC has acknowledged the petition.

Prashant Jha, national political editor and chief of bureau, Hindustan Times, has also stepped down from his position following allegations of harassment. When Newslaundry contacted HT General Counsel Dinesh Mittal, we were informed that Jha was asked to step down from all managerial positions. He will, however, continue to be an employee at HT pending further investigations. Avantika Mehta, a former lawyer who was a legal correspondent with HT in 2014, came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against Jha. Mehta had recently left HT when the incident occurred.